So she explained that many many years ago, the people in China didn't have the calendar like we do today, so they measured their months and days by looking at the moon. One cycle of the moon would approximately be about a month. Also, and the mortality rate of babies less than a month old in China was very high. And if the baby survives the whole cycle of the moon, there is a significantly higher chance he/she will live much longer.
So I thought that was an interesting piece of trivia to know, but then everything because terribly real when on New Year's Day, Sarah-Anne came down with a high fever. It was sudden and very high. We're talking 39 degrees for a new born baby. She was just 3 weeks old!
We got hold of her pediatrician Dr Ong and after examining her, he admitted her immediately. Fever in babies so small are considered dangerous so admission was necessary so she could be monitored throughout the day.
Within the hour of her admission, my poor baby had a needle stuck in her hand to draw blood and for the purpose of administering the IV antibiotics. It was terribly painful to see her cry and her hand bandaged up.
Her bandaged little hand - seeing it really broke my heart.
They did blood tests and cultures and while the reports showed that she had an infection, all the cultures came back negative. It wasn't a UTI and it wasn't a blood infection. So after a second blood test, and results showing the presence of an infection still (raised white blood cell count), Dr Ong decided to do a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to rule out meningitis.
Personally, I wasn't given much time to react, but after speaking to him before the procedure, he told me that with such small babies, their margin of error was very small and that it was necessary to rule out any cause of the infection.
I began to cry as I lay her down on the table. She was just looking around unawares of what was about to happen. I prayed in my heart that God would guide Dr Ong's hands and that the procedure would be swift without any complications. I wasn't allowed to witness the procedure and my confinement nanny and I stood outside. We heard her scream possibly the most fearsome cry and that was possibly the most painful 10 minutes of my life.
When it was over, I held her so tightly in my arms and quickly nursed her to comfort her. Within minutes, she fell asleep. I thanked God that the everything went well and Dr Ong managed to extract a clean sample of her spinal fluid.
My little trooper the evening after her lumbar puncture
That night (Thursday, 4 Jan), the results came out and she was cleared of meningitis. I was so thankful. So Dr Ong discharged us on Friday morning after 4 nights in the hospital. The cause of the fever is still unknown but because her fever broke by Thursday morning, Dr Ong allowed us to go home. She had to be on a week's worth of oral antibiotics though, and while that was still not desirable, it was definitely better than staying in the hospital.
So when we celebrated her reaching one month on 10 January, it was truly a celebration because just a week before that, there was the possibility that she wasn't going to make it. We want to thank God for sustaining us through the ordeal. If I hadn't had Jesus, His presence and His Words of comfort, I don't know how much worse the experience would have been. I am also thankful for all the prayers and support from my husband, my family and friends.
Blessed one month Sarah-Anne! We love you so so much!
One month goodies
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