Any ideas what (if anything) is going on with my newborn?

[AlfieBear87]

DS2 is 20 days old, so far the following has happened:

I was induced at 39 weeks because he had stopped growing.

At birth he had a 'dusky episode' where he was struggling to fill his lungs. He was whisked away and spent the night in SCBU.

Due to 'dusky episode' and a 'hazy' chest X-ray, he was given a 5 day course of antibiotics (blood cultures were clear of infection).

Became fairly jaundiced and has still not got rid of it completely.

He put on weight in the first 2 weeks (he was 6lb13oz at birth) but has lost weight in his 3rd week (he's ebf on demand).

Went for blood tests today due to jaundice and weight loss, results for jaundice is fine but his calcium and phosphate levels are high so they want to test him again in 2 weeks.

It seems to be one thing after another at the moment, I've lost count of how many needles he's been pricked with. Every time they do a test it picks something else up. But each time we're told "the doctors aren't too worried, they just want to be on the safe side" which is brilliant but slightly confusing - surely they are worried a bit otherwise further testing wouldn't be necessary?

I know no one can diagnose him on mumsnet, I just want him to be given a clean bill of health but it keeps not happening.

[YouDontWinFriendsWithSalad]

In my experience, they really DO just want to be on the safe side and are just following procedure.

When DD was born she had an appointment with a physio about her hip, two appointments with another specialist about a mysterious lump on her chest which turned out to be nothing, an appointment with an audiologist about her hearing - all 'just to be on the safe side' and all came to nothing. I found it a bit mind boggling and seemed to be at the hospital constantly.

If you're worried, just ask them to exactly explain their reasoning. HCP's are often very busy and don't always take the time to explain everything but are perfectly happy to explain when pressed. I'm sure he will be fine (sorry if that is annoying!).

Congratulations on your lovely newborn.

[AlfieBear87]

Thank you youdon'twin (I LOVE your name by the way).

I'm sure he will be fine too, like you said it just feels like I'm living at the hospital at the moment. We have a 16 mo son as well and it's quite difficult keeping him entertained during all these appointments (we were there for 4 hours today!)

We've definitely found that some doctors are better at explaining things than others. My DH isn't very good at taking in a lot of information in one go, so it falls on me to make sure I understand everything so I can relay it back to Him once we've got home!!

Fingers crossed all will be done and dusted after the next lot of tests (and then let the vaccinations begin!)