Unusual Assignment

Before I started this blog, I was writing for a web site called Associated Content.  It got bought out by Yahoo, and is now called “Yahoo! Voices”.  Since I haven’t written for a while, I had to update my information and reapply for “Featured Contributor” status.  The major reason for doing this is that it pays more. 

When you do this, you have to write an assignment on a topic that the editors choose.  I think they were intentionally being mean.  They picked:

How to Choose Between Home or Hospital Birth

It took me all afternoon to find a way to write an article that didn’t start with things like:

·        How stupid do you have to be to want to deliver at home?

·        What have you been smoking?

·        Do you want your baby to die?

I mean, really!  I spent 4 years in medical school, 4 years in residency, and have been practicing OB/GYN for almost 30 years.  Sheesh! 

What I finally wrote was “Choosing a Birth Location – Hospital vs. Home”.

I basically explained about all the reasons why you needed to have trained physicians nearby if things go wrong.  Then I talked about some of the things that can go wrong and when they do. 

We’ll see if it gets published or rejected.

National Prematurity Awareness Day

Today is National Prematurity Awareness Day.  This was passed on to me by MOST.  MOST stands for Mothers Of SuperTwins, an organization that supports parents of triplets and more.  Our pregnancies are at high risk for early delivery with all the problems that ensue. 

We end up on bedrest a lot.  We have premature labor.  There is a high risk of miscarriage and pregnancy loss.  As a general rule, the more babies, the earlier the delivery.

My triplets were almost 35 weeks.  They didn’t have any breathing problems.  They did have some feeding problems.  They came home when they were nine days old. 

Now is a good time to thank my doctors and friends for helping me through all of that.  My Mom was awesome.  I learned a lot from her.  My husband put up with all my moods, my hot flashes and my insomnia. 

My boys are now 17.  They show no sign of being 4 ½ pounds at birth.  They are seniors in high school.  Wow.  Who would have thunk it?

Parenting Triplet Babies – 2

Feeding Time

I had a pediatrician who made the comment about one of my children: “If he doesn’t want to eat, don’t feed him.”  I believe the doc was implying that my child was overweight.

My babies started out a bit on the scrawny side, at about 4 ½ pounds each, and 18 ½ inches long.  They were 6 weeks early, but did well.  Once they figured out how to eat (a common problem with preemies), they haven’t stopped.

I NEVER played those “airplane” games, or any other games with my kids once they had learned to eat.  I took home one of my exam stools from my office.  I lined the boys up in their high chairs.  I had one bowl and one spoon. 

Whoever was on the left got the first spoonful.  I moved down the line.  By the time I got to the end, the first guy was ready again.  When the mouth didn’t open, I figured the little “monkey” – er – “angel” was finished eating, and skipped him.  When no more mouths opened, we were done.  Mouths and fingers got washed, they got down and we went on to the next thing.

I guess you can imagine the look on my face when the pediatrician said what he said.  Force feed a child?  Who on earth had time for that????????  What was he thinking?  I believe my jaw hit the floor!  It still makes my brain hurt.

I was never so happy as when they figured out how to hold a spoon or hit their mouths with those Cheerios!

Kangaroo care

Something I learned today

I read an interesting article today while doing “continuing medical education” (CME).  I just wanted to share this one.  They studied kangaroo care and whether it helped reduce pain for procedures in premature infants.  Evidently they already know it works for term infants.  They also studied whether Moms or Dads worked better.

For those of you who don’t know, kangaroo care is a method of caring for infants involving skin to skin contact between the baby and the care giver.  The baby has a diaper on and is placed against Mom or Dad’s skin.  It is supposed to help with bonding, breast feeding, growth and development.

There were a lot of technical details in the article I read.  I won’t bore you with them.  If you want, you can refer to the article. The study was done by Johnston and colleagues and is reported in the September issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. 

The results were interesting.  All the babies were comforted by being with their parents during the procedure.  The procedure was having their blood drawn from their foot – a “heel stick”.  They cried less, their heart rates went up less, and the heart rate returned to normal faster.  FYI, Moms did just a little bit better than Dads. 

I was impressed that we are studying ways to make painful procedures more comfortable for the little ones.  Aww….

You learn something new every day.