Handhold please - baby in hospital

[Worries123]

My beautiful baby daughter, who was born 5 days ago, has to stay in the hospital for the next 36 hours.

This morning she woke up with a raised temperature, so we called 111.

They asked us to attend our nearest A & E.

They've checked her temperature there and it was still slightly raised. Her oxygen levels are good though.

They've done a blood test and it will take 36 hours for the results to come in.

Until then I have to stay in hospital with her. Apparently it's because she's so tiny and they have to make sure everything is okay.

If the blood test comes back with negative factors, they will take some spinal fluid from her.

I hope I wrote down everything correctly and didn't misunderstand.

Obviously I'm besides myself and can't stop crying. I'm so terrified of losing her.

She's on antibiotics at the moment.

She's still feeding normally and has wet and dirty nappies.

Has anyone been through this and can give any advice?

Does anyone work for the NHS and know if this is a normal procedure? xx

Hugs I hope little one will be okay. Sorry I don’t have any knowledge about these things. But I know how worrying it is to have baby in hospital.

It's exactly the right thing to do (keeping you in) because tiny babies can become very sick very quickly. It's s often only when they are very obviously unwell that they are brought in (not waking for many hours, not feeding etc), somwtimes too late. What you've done is reposnd to an early indication of illness, and thats fantastic. It means they can keep her there until they either they know the cause and are satisified its been treaed, or that it has fully resolved without knowing exactly what caused it. Either way, you are in the right place at the right time because you acted on that fever. It doesn't mean she's going to become desperately unwell, in fact your actions means she unlikely too, as she's now getting antibiotics and being monitored. Hang in there and try to get some rest for yourself if you can

This is totally totally normal. Please don’t worry. Little babies with any sign of infection whatever are taken incredibly seriously because they can get poorly so quickly, even though the majority are fine. She’s in the right place, it sounds like all the signs are good that you don’t need to worry (though I know it’s inevitable that you will) and if anything goes wrong at all she can be treated very fast. Sending hugs .

Thank you - we were allowed to go home today.

Her blood test results have come back normal and she doesn't have sepsis.

It's most likely a viral infection like a cold that she has picked up from her siblings.

The nurses and doctors were very nice and we were in the best hands xx

Glad to hear things are going well.

Be kind to yourself: illness in the newborn is frightening for parents. I hope you feel ok soon, but , if the scared feeling persists, just take care of yourself, this is quite normal, and won't last forever.

Glad to hear she has got home. My DD had sepsis at 24hrs old and it was a very scary and horrible time, which led to two weeks in hospital. Its good that 111 and the nurses/doctors took everything so seriously. Hope she makes a speedy recovery and you can all enjoy these special newborn days together.