A nightmare day.

Hi Ladies

Sorry I have been a bit quiet, I have popped on and looked at posts when I have had chance but I have been trying to enjoy every second I have with Kendra who is such an alert (awake lol) baby.

Things have been going really well and she has been an absolute joy, sleep has been better than I would of expected during these first two weeks considering we are breast feeding. The day before yesterday Kendra had what I would describe as a grumpy and a hungry day but I put this down to it being very hot and she was probably having a bit of a growth spurt.

As I was changing her yesterday morning I noticed what looked like a big spot under her arm pit. It was very red and hard and there appeared to be a swelling behind it. I was obviously worried so called the GP and asked to see someone. I took her to the surgery and the GP said it could either be a septic spot or an abcess. She first of all said that Kendra would need antibiotics but after looking some more said that the spot / abcess was quite advanced and felt it would be worth getting it checked out at the local Paed assessment unit. I panicked on two levels - firstly knowing how dangerous infections can be in newborns especially as this could already be in her system and secondly the thought of taking my little girl to the hospital. While the GP typed a letter she phoned the hospital to let them know to expect us. I stood holding onto Kendra sobbing uncontrollably. The GP looked at me and said 'its ok', I said ' no it's not I took my 6 week old son there and he died'. She asked about Keaton and I told her what had happened, she tried to reassure me but there was nothing she could say, nothing anyone could say. I knew no one could give me any guarantees!!

I got hold of Phil who came to pick us up and take us to the hospital. I knew he was worried too but he desperately tried to calm me down, he kept reminding me that this was different. A different time, situation and baby. While I knew he was right I was back there the day Keaton died and I was so scared I was going to loose Kendra too, that I was not going to be bringing her home.

Phil phoned the hospital to ask that we were not put in the unit where Keaton died and they were very good and found us a room on the other side of the unit.

When we were eventually seen by a doctor he did nothing to fill me with confidence. He started by asking about Kendra's development and asked if she was crawling yet?!!!! I said to him 'she is two weeks old'!!!!! He then kept calling her him and that began to anoy me!

Anyhow he eventually said that he would get it looked at by a surgeon in case it needed draining and I thought ok. We found out after an hour of waiting that what he was actually going to do was refer us to either Birmingham or Nottingham as Stafford do not do Paed surgery. We waited another couple of hours waiting to hear where they were sending us. After I chased them up the doctor reappeared with his senior who re examined Kendra and decided that they were confident that they could send us home with antibiotics and that the abcess would either go of its own accord or burst and drain.

In total we spent 5 hours of pure torture waiting to be told what they eventually told us.

Kendra is fine in herself, the area still looks nasty but I am confident that it will pop at some point as it looks so full.

We are taking her back Friday morning to be reviewed so I will let you know how we get on.

***photo moved to family pictures board***

Teresa kis

xxxx