Babies! Babies! Babies!

      I love reading about babies and how they form in a woman's body! It has got to be the most beautiful thing to be able to create a living, breathing, completely unique human inside your own body! The experience from a mothers point of view is one that could never be matched! During both my pregnancies I loved reading about what was going on with my baby. In between my two pregnancies I worked as a phlebotomist at Overlake hospital and often times worked in labor and delivery. I would do newborn screenings on babies as well as various other blood tests. This is the test that tests for phenylketonuria. Parents would often complain about their newborn needing to have a blood test done so early. To be fair it does usually take a few minutes. To do a newborn screening test you first warm the babies foot with a foot warmer. Then you use a lancet to make a very small cut in the heal to one side or the other of the heel. Its bigger than a finger prick but not big enough to cause any serious pain. Then you must squeeze blood from the heel onto blotter paper (looks and feels a lot like thick coffee filters). There are six dime sized circles on the paper and they all must be filled. It can take some time, and some babies just don't like it. Anyhow, some parents would refuse the test. I was always astonished by this! This test detects many different conditions (I believe somewhere in the region of 50 different conditions were tested for, but don't quote me on that one) and most were manageable through diet or simple medication. But without early knowledge of the condition it could often lead to serious lifelong conditions.Why refuse a test that could greatly increase your child's quality of life if they did have one of these conditions?

     I particularly liked the section on low birth weight babies. I hope to work in the NICU once I become an RN and have some time under my belt. These are exactly the type of babies I would be caring for. In this section the book talks about low birth weight babies needing stimulation. The types of stimulation listed were recordings of soothing music or of their mothers voice and massages several times a day and visual stimulation through mobiles placed above their crib. I was surprised that the book didnt mention "skin to skin" in this section. If you have a child you know exactly what Im talking about but if not, skin to skin is where the baby is placed on the mothers bare chest in only a diaper. The skin to skin contact does wonders to regulate heart rate and temperature as well as many other body functions. When my son was in the NICU (he was born three months early) we did skin to skin cuddle sessions as much as we could! Some days he could be out of his plastic womb (his uncubator) more than others but any chance we got we would throw the shirts off and cuddle wrapped in a heated blanket. Durring those times his breathing was steady and he would have less apnea (a period where he would stop breathing) his heart rate would even out and he would be calm and content. I later read an article that in many third world countries where women do not have access to reliable medical treatment, when a baby was born early the mother was told to wrap the baby onto their bare chest. They would not take the baby out for anything but changing, and they would only need to reposition to feed the baby. There were a surprising number of babies born very premature that would survive using only skin to skin! More proof that the woman's body, no matter the size, shape, or color is truly the most beautiful thing to ever walk the earth!

    After reading this section I would like to do more research on the other more homeopathic type remedies for babies with low birth weight or born prematurely. This article reminded me of why I am where I am today, going to school to touch the lives of others and make a difference. There are babies born in many cultures around the world who don't have access to the same medical advances we are so blessed with. And yet those same cultures are continuing on, creating new generations to take the place of the older generations. I want to know what they do to survive! I imagine the best of both worlds. There are many things that can be cured or remedied with pure ol' mother nature as well as many things that I will fully admit to needing modern science and medicine. Combine the two and the benefits are endless. 

 

Her is my Carter Bug just a few short hours after being born

He was 3.2 pounds and a fighter from day 1!

I thank god every day for the medical advances we have as a society...

Because without them I may have missed out on all this!