Lisa: “Our newborn baby kept turning pale...”
Our daughter Leia was born on June 13, 2022, after a good, uncomplicated pregnancy of 40 weeks and 4 days. It was a pleasant hypnobirthing delivery. Her APGAR score was 9 and 10, and she immediately breastfed well. After a few golden hours of recovery, we were allowed to go home late in the evening. The maternity nurse was at our doorstep just after midnight: Willy, a middle-aged woman who knew how to get things done, but we got along with her well. When she left around 2:00 AM, we were left feeling a bit awkward, but happy with a lot of instructions for taking care of Leia.
Excellent maternity care
Willy was already at the door at 8:00 AM that morning and immediately asked me why I was out of bed already? “Because I was hungry,” was my reply. I was sent back to bed and got breakfast there. Willy helped my husband Steven with Leia through the morning. We hadn't managed to wake her up properly at night to breastfeed, but this morning it went well.
Suddenly, Leia turned blue
We were still chatting when I suddenly noticed she was very pale. I got scared and said: “I think my child looks blue. Is she still breathing?!” Willy was also startled and immediately took Leia from me. She laid her on the bed and started to rub her back vigorously and pinch under her little foot. After what seemed like an eternity (but maybe it was just half a minute), Leia started crying and turned pink again. “Nothing to worry about,” said Willy. “Maybe just some food coming up. It's scary, but nothing serious.” She did inform the midwife and urged us not to be afraid. This rarely happened and we had now seen what to do if it happened again. If it did happen, we were allowed to call the midwife again.
I was stiff with adrenaline
Willy left and we remained in bed, just the three of us. It was a calm day, though I was still stiff from the adrenaline, and Leia was sleeping on me or my husband. When she was lying on Steven's chest in the late afternoon, she seemed to turn pale again. "She's doing it again!" I exclaimed. "Nonsense, nothing's wrong," said Steven, but he picked her up and she was limp. He was startled too and immediately laid her on the bed to rub her back and pinch her foot. "Call the midwife. Now!", he said urgently. In a panic, I tried to remember under what name the midwife was saved in my phone and called.
Just to be sure, stop by
She found it strange but not yet worrisome, especially since Leia also quickly recovered and cried. She would contact the pediatrician at the hospital where Leia was born. A little later, she called back that we had to come over. No rush, but for our peace of mind, Leia was going to be checked out. No rush... I still find it incomprehensible how I managed to stay calm enough at that moment to take a shower and pack some things before getting into the car. We still had to drive over 20 minutes to the hospital.
The nurse pressed the emergency button
The ride went well and once we arrived at the neonatology department, Leia was admitted to a small room where we could also stay overnight. She was weighed and her temperature was taken. When the nurse put her back on the bed, she passed out again. "There she goes again!", I exclaimed. I was terrified, but at the same time, I was relieved that it was happening again and they could immediately see what we meant. The nurse was startled too and quickly placed her on the examination table. "Don't be alarmed, but I'm going to press a button and then some people will come in," she said. I am a nurse by profession, and normally I'm the one who says this. But now I was on the sidelines with my husband and it was about our child.
Her oxygen level turned out to be dangerously low
The room filled up and Leia was connected to all sorts of wires and monitors. I didn't want to look at the numbers, but out of habit I did anyway and saw that her saturation (oxygen level in the blood) was only 46% at that time (where 95% and higher is normal). And while we just stood there, crying and panicking, Leia kept having one seizure after another and it took longer and longer for her to come out of them. The pediatrician who rushed in decided that she needed to be in a separate room with more equipment to monitor her. She was moved immediately.
Where did the attacks come from?
We were left dumbfounded. I remember thinking, "Well, we haven't gotten used to her for that long, so the goodbye shouldn't be too hard." It's strange what goes through your mind at such a moment. It took a very long time, but eventually the pediatrician came back to update us on the situation. Leia had more seizures and was now on an IV, a monitor that tracked her heart rate, breathing, saturation, and a CPAP, which provided her with oxygen under pressure. She wasn't sure exactly where the seizures were coming from, but she suspected meningitis...
LISA
