I'm not the type that gets worried easily or unnecessarily, yes I think about the future events in my life, and plan and prepare my mind for all possible outcomes. But something happened some days after the birth of my son five months ago that I wasn't prepared for nor saw it coming, this brought out a flood of fear into my fragile heart. For someone that just went through a major surgery, and going through a recovery process there was little my mind can process so any little thing concerning my baby can trigger some fear in me. Especially being a first-time mom with little to no experience.
Three days after his delivery, a nurse at the health center where they went to collect his first vaccine discovered he had jaundice And she was scolding my mom and hubby as why don't we start treating it for him, they told her we were not aware of the condition as the hospital where we gave birth never discovered it.
They were told to go back and get the treatment. They narrated this to me by the time they joined me back at the hospital as I wasn't strong enough to follow them to the health center.
Immediately, we reached out to the doctor and told him about what was happening. He confirms that it is true what the nurse at the health center had told us and prescribed some medications for us for the treatment.
We requested for them to run a test so that we will know how severe his case was. His blood sample was collected and we were told that the result will come back the following day.
At first, I wasn't that worried about the whole thing, I was just hoping that it wouldn't be something serious. I started checking online what could have caused him to have jaundice and the long time effect on his health and well-being.
Then, I discovered that if it is very severe then we will require urgent medical attention and possibly be admitted to a nursing baby's home where he will get the adequate medical care he will need.
Meanwhile hubby has gotten the prescribed medications and we started treatment immediately. The test result came back the following day and it shows that his jaundice level is nothing for us to worry about because it was not severed
This was the fourth day of my delivery, we were then discharged and I will just be visiting every three days to dress my surgery site.
Only for my cousin's sister who happens to be a nurse visited us two days later and was so furious when she sighted my baby and observed his skin and eyes color as to why the hospital discharged us with the kind of his condition. She told us that he needed urgent medical attention and took us to the hospital where she works the following day. The test result given to us at the hospital was wrong.
By this time I was beginning to worry for my baby, at first I tried to be calm and strong but the more I tried the harder it became. I began to feel guilty and powerless. I found it very difficult to process my thoughts as everything was happening very fast. I just wanted to be at home to bond with my baby.
At my cousin's hospital the following day, it was on Sunday so their lab where we could conduct a test for him was not functioning on Sunday. We were directed to a nearby lab where his blood sample was collected for the test and were told that his result will be available in about five hours. When the result came back it confirmed my sister's suspicions, as it shows that his condition was severe.
Coming back to my cousin's hospital, my baby was collected from Me and they started a phototherapy by exposing him to some special kind of light which will help him remove the high present bilirubin in his blood that was causing him to have jaundice.
The time was around 11 am. By this time I was so stressed and tired. My sister kept on telling me not to worry myself and that my baby will be fine, I was given a ward where I could lie down and just be resting but no matter how I tried I couldn't just rest my mind. I felt like I should be able to find out about my baby's condition earlier. What if it will have a lasting effect on him? I was really worried, and helpless. Every 30 minutes I will go to his ward and check on him and most times he will be crying for breast milk which I will give to him.
This was taken one of the time I went to breastfeed him
Seeing his face tied up with bandages like that each time I visit him breaks my heart. At some point, I just couldn't help but start sobbing silently and uncontrollably lying down on a bed in my ward.
Hubby who was sitting on a chair beside me got a notice after a while and he started consoling me. Why I was crying was not just the condition of my baby, but seeing how tired hubby looked because of his running up and down for the past few days, and all I could do was just lay in one place, was tormenting and annoying me.
After I cried my eyes out, I felt a bit better and stronger. I told myself whatever the condition of my baby will be, I will be here for him when he comes back and I will do everything in my power to take good care of him.
I think that was the longest day of my life. Every hour I was hoping that the doctor would bring him out from there and said he is okay now but he was there until around 8 am the following morning. The test was conducted again and the result shows that his blood is normal. The high level of bilirubin in his blood has normalized thanks to the treatment and we were told we could go home.
Immediately, I felt like a heavy load was relieved from my shoulder, I embraced him and felt happy again. As a mother sometimes when things happen to our kids we can't help but get worried or even blame ourselves. It was very hard to stay calm all through. Looking back now all my worries were not necessary, the situation just got the better of me. I will be forever grateful to my cousin who knew he needed urgent medical attention and made sure he got it at the right time. Thanks to her, my baby is growing strong and well he is also not at risk of any kind.
My mom and his grandson at two months plus❤