The Thursday (Liam two days old) Gavin and I got worried that Liam wasn't passing urine. His little willy also looked a bit swollen and infected. We mentioned this to one of the midwives who then called for a pediatrician. That kicked-started a whole new set of worries....
The pediatrician came and was immediately concerned about the fact that nobody told her that I had a high fever during labour. She was the one that checked him immediately after he was born and apparently if the mother has a high fever during labour, the newborn gets an antibiotics injection to protect them against infections. We explained what happened during the labour and I could see the emotion in her expression... later she admitted that she had the same experience 4 years ago and it still troubles her.
She checked his willy and also thought it looked a bit infected. Blood needed to be drawn... shame two days old and we are already sticking needles into him! The blood results came back the afternoon and showed that his infection count is higher than what it should be... now the worries began again and close monitoring of
Liam and how he is doing. Midwives came through the night, as they were instructed, to take his temprature to ensure it stays within the normal range... which it did. In the morning another needle prick and more blood was taken to test his infection count again.... This time it was lower but not within the parameters the hospital is comfortable with. We then had the choice to either give him antibiotics or not... a choice we wouldn't have had if they knew at the time of his birth that I had a fever during labour. After much deliberation we decided that we will do bloodworks the next morning and if there is no improvement go for the antibiotics root. We didn't want to give Liam antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. The next morning bloodworks were again taken... now he has pricks in both hands and one foot... the results showed that the infection count in his blood declined again. We were all comfortable that his body is fighting off the infection and he had a big wee in the meantime, so no antibiotics were prescribed, thank goodness!
