Sort of a continuation of her birth story:
Once Molly was out and breathing well and we had all settled into bed, the midwife mentioned that she heard a heart arrhythmia. She had heard it during my labor but had thought it was just Molly moving around. So she hung around for quite a while – the whole rest of the night and checked up on Molly periodically. She left sometime between 8 or 9am and told us to get Molly in to see the pediatrician that day to check out her heart sounds.
We took Molly to see one of the pediatricians in our practice (not one we usually see, our first mistake) and had him take a look. He said she sounded fine, but didn’t specify if he heard the arrhythmia. And we didn’t ask. (Our second mistake.) So we went home thinking all was fine and tried to get some rest. Carol (midwife) came to check up on us at 7pm and wasn’t at all satisfied with the pediatrician’s reaction. She could still hear the arrhythmia (and so could we, it was pretty obvious) and really wanted Molly to have an EKG. Apparently as babies switch from womb to outside, there can be a little trouble for some little hearts. She was really concerned that Molly was headed for such trouble.
Off to Phoenix Children’s Hospital Urgent Care we went. They did a 3 line EKG, but weren’t satisfied that Molly was out of the woods. They called ahead to get Molly a spot in the PCH NICU and sent us there so that Molly could have a 12 line EKG and see a cardiologist. By this point I had been awake for over 42 hours with just a few snoozes and had given birth besides. To say I was beside myself is such and understatement. I SOBBED the whole way to the hospital. I had no tissues and had to use my sling to wipe my face. I was worried about Molly and I was so tired I couldn’t even think straight anymore.
We arrived at PCH a little after 11pm. We were ushered through the flu-infested ER straight to the NICU and to a cozy little corner to call our own. I had a recliner to sit in and a little barrier to provide some privacy. Molly’s little isolette was right in our area and her nurse had a desk right there as well. The lovely nurse-practitioner did her best to calm me down and answer all of our questions. We decided that Jay should go home and get some sleep and come back to the hospital after getting the other kids off to school in the morning.
Molly was hooked up to all sorts of monitors and we settled in for a breastfeeding marathon and the long night began to tick by moment by moment. I was informed that I could not sleep in the recliner while holding Molly. But every time I set her down in the isolette she would cry. So I held her through the night and caught 10 minutes of sleep when the nurse wasn’t looking.
Getting a 12 line EKG on a newborn is no easy task. Her skin had not been washed yet and so the adhesives didn’t stick to her well and the probes would fall right off. Then she was moving around and not wanting to be put down, so they couldn’t get a good read on her. We tried three separate times (about 2 hours apart) before we finally got her still enough, and we still had to hold each and every probe on her. She also got a rash from the contact with the adhesive. Great. But we finally got enough of a read on her and then I just waited for morning and for the cardiologist. It was a very, very long night.
The cardiologist came through early in the morning, 6am I think, and talked with me and cleared her. He said the arrhythmia was just a little hiccup in the top part of her heart and that she could have it her whole life and never suffer any ill effects. But if it had been in the lower part then it would have been a concern and could be serious, so it was good that we brought her in.
Around 8:30 Jay came in. I don’t think I have ever been so happy to see him in my life. Finally I changed clothes and told him all about my night. By 9:30 we were on our way home with our healthy little girl, ready to finally get some sleep.