poorly newborn or not?

[nonamimi]

born 00:30 thursday, 7/5, 6lbs 9oz, apgar 9/9, missed first feed, blood test (4hours) - low blood sugar - cleared up within 12 hours, urine sample (at 12 hours) - clear, blood test (18 hours) - crp 44- antibiotics started on ward (not scbu), blood test (36 hours) - crp 22, 5th dose antibiotics not given as IV had come out - midwife said not important, blood test revealed no bacteria present, still on antibiotics...now testing for jaundice too!!
does anyone have any idea what this means?

I would always treat a crp that is at all elevated in a baby, just because neonatal sepsis is a killer if untreated. On the other hand the vast majority of babies with slightly elevated crp or anything else that has worried me enough to treat, has ended up having nothing whatsoever wrong, has had a short course of antibiotics, had negative blood cultures and has been completely fine.

A combination of a low blood sugar and a slightly high crp (crp is a marker of infection or inflammation, is very very non-specific and could mean a bacterial infection or a viral infection or just a bit of generalised battering and bruising from being born) would definitely worry me enough to treat until I had a blood culture back, but group b strep, which is the commonest cause of neonatal sepsis, grows really well and really quickly in blood cultures so if that was negative then that is really very reassuring that there was nothing worrying going on.

So I would say the baby was potentially poorly, treated appropriately just in case but it turns out was probably ok all along, just had enough little risk factors to trigger a need for just-in-case antibiotics

The jaundice is almost certainly nothing to worry about, about 60% of babies get some degree of jaundice and in most cases it is completely normal and needs no treatment, but being in hospital means it's easier to check a level just to make sure no treatment is needed (the docs and midwives would look a bit daft sending a baby home knowing he was a bit jaundiced only to have to re-admit the baby next day for a jaundice check cause he looks a bit yellower!)

thanks sallysparrow157 that's made me feel a tiny bit better, just want to get home and back to some sort of normality, they say we're here for at least 5 days to finish this 5 day course of antibiotics so I'm aiming for wednesday fingers crossed

thanks sallysparrow157 that's made me feel a tiny bit better, just want to get home and back to some sort of normality, they say we're here for at least 5 days to finish this 5 day course of antibiotics so I'm aiming for wednesday fingers crossed

Much as it's crappy being stuck in hospital and getting your lovely baby home will be fantastic, if you view it as an opportunity to lie in bed whilst other people bring you meals and cups of tea, with no need to even consider anything like housework or that kind of stuff, and a set time for visitors so people can come see you but not stay long enough to tire you out... You get to just cuddle your baby, establish feeding and have a bunch of midwives on hand if you've any little niggles or questions.
(I know that being on a postnatal ward is hardly being in the lap of luxury and the reality is that the food is pants and the second you or your baby get to sleep something wakes you up, but if you can kid yourself that there are some positives it will get you through til Wednesday!!)

Huge congratulations on your lovely shiny new baby though x