My son had hie ear tube surgery this morning. It was the third surgery he has been through, and considering he’s not even four yet that’s a pretty big deal. His first surgery was to put ear tubes in and remove his adenoids, the second surgery was to remove the ear tubes and do a skin graft onto his ear drum, and today’s was to put a tube back into one of his ears. I was really reluctant to do it and was afraid that his Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialist was being alarmist, but when he had his pre-surgery appointment with his primary physician the doctor took one look in his ear and said, “Oh yeah, surgery is the right decision.”

I had hoped to avoid anything like this while my husband is away on his military tour, but I couldn’t delay it anymore because my son’s hearing was starting to get affected. I went into this whole thing with a laundry list of problems that could go wrong. Remember that I’ve been through this with my son twice before so I knew the physical toll it could take on him, so I was bracing myself for the worst case scenario for everything. Well, maybe not the worst case, but I was prepared to deal with a lot of problems as a result of the surgery.

Sometimes, however, everything goes just right and parents are rewarded with best case scenarios.

I was afraid that finding someone to take my daughter for the day would be a big hassle, but my neighbor down the street who is moving in a week graciously offered to put her packing on hold for the day and take my daughter. She didn’t just watch her either; she took her to the park and out to lunch and made it a very special day for her.

My son remembered his last surgery and was not happy about it, so I waited until yesterday to mention that he would have surgery today. I was ready for him to freak out, but instead he started talking about the play room at the hospital and how he couldn’t wait to play with all the toys.

My son had to abstain from food or water starting at midnight last night. Since he’s the kind of kid who wakes up looking for his cup of orange juice, I was afraid he would be begging for something to drink. Instead, he didn’t mention anything and the surgery clinic actually called to ask if he could come in earlier, so that was less time he spent hungry and thirsty.

When it came time for him to go into surgery, I was afraid he would put up a struggle and cry for me like last time, but this time he was wheeled away without a protest.

The last time he returned from surgery he was distraught and inconsolable. He cried and whimpered and pushed against me for a good half hour or so, but today he came back into the room smiling, sitting up, and showing me the stuffed doll the surgery team had given him in the recovery room.

The last two surgeries he had, he was groggy and in pain for a few hours after the operation was complete. Today, he was actually up and dancing around in his hospital room. His appetite was raging so we went to lunch together and he was in good spirits.

As a parent, I usually brace myself for everything to go wrong and for things to be as difficult as possible. Once in a while I’m blessed with a day when everything actually goes smoothly. By the way, my son is napping comfortably on the couch while I type this, and he usually doesn’t nap anymore. What more could a mom ask for?

In Taiwan, a 30 bed maternity hospital recently opened. The hospital cost $3 million to construct. That’s not news.  The fact that the hospital,  Hau Sheng Hospital, is decorated with a “Hello Kitty” theme is news.

Hello Kitty is a chubby Japanese cartoon cat that has a following worldwide.  In the United States, the character enjoyed a brief stint of popularity in the late 1980’s.

The nurses at this hospital wear pink with Hello Kitty aprons.  Costumed characters come to visit the mothers and the newborns during their stay and birth certificates are decorated with characters from the cartoon series.

Tsai Tsung-chi, director of the hospital in Yaulin, says that he hopes the cute cartoon character will reduce some of the pain of childbirth.  Truly, I have to say that I don’t think a cute cartoon character would have reduced the pain I felt during childbirth.

I know for a fact that the room decor has very little to do with labor pain.  I’ve delivered my babies with midwives attending the births, in a hospital room decorated with elegant cherry furniture surrounded by doctors, and in a stark and drab military hospital.  The pain I felt with each birth was pretty much similar.

I don’t mean to sound jaded.  I think it’s a great idea and if I had a choice, I’d probably choose the “Hello Kitty” hospital over another facility if the care at both places was comparable.  I find myself wondering though–exactly how do they keep those cute aprons sterile and clean?

What do you think? Would a cute cartoon cat have helped to reduce your labor pain?

This one really breaks my heart – newborn babies in intensive care units are in pain and medical care is not doing enough to ease it.

The study published in the July 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association analyzed 42,413 painful procedures performed on 430 newborns. And the results are equally painful to a parent’s heart , as follows:

• only 2% of the newborns received medications to lessen pain
• only 18.2% were given non-pharmacological pain therapy.
• about four out of five babies received no interventions to relieve pain

The procedures and interventions conducted are many and ranges from a simple heel stick to draw blood to the complicated task of inserting a chest tube. The majority of babies who go to intensive care are preemies. Most of the procedures are necessary for monitoring as well as keeping the infant healthy. However, little babies aged 1 to 4 weeks old are very sensitive to pain. Repeated or prolonged exposure of babies to lots of pain can affect the way their brains process pain and may also have an effect on their long-term development and behaviour.

However, doctors are hesitant about using pain relieving-medications on these babies because of the risks. There are no medications especially designed for premature babies. The effects as well as side effects of commercially available pain relievers on very young infants are unpredictable.

The researchers recommend that pharmacological and non-pharmacological pain relief should be combined to get the desired effect. Giving babies sucrose or glucose solution, for example, has been shown to ease injection pains. The kangaroo care position has also shown to be helpful. Topical anesthetics may be used for mild procedures.

I remember the two weeks my premature twin boys spent at the neonatal clinic. There was one instance when the paediatrician had to search every square cm of his forehead and prick several times before she could hit a vein. I could understand that finding minute blood vessels on a tiny baby is an extremely difficult but necessary task. But this is no comfort for a mom, any mom, any parent.

This week, I took my 30 minutes recommended cardio per day and saved it all up for one day! Trust me, ladies, this is not a good idea!

My husband, my niece, her friend and I decided to walk from 10th Street in New York City’s East Village all the way up Broadway and 52nd Street. I held up better than I could have imagined, walking at a fairly rapid pace and I drank enough water to stay hydrated during the trek. I felt pretty good having survived the journey, and I know that exercise is good for me and the baby. But my body paid for it today with a new-to-me pregnancy pain.

When I first got a sharp pain in the right side of my abdomen this morning, I figured it was just the baby kicking, although I didn’t feel the pressure of a kick. This same pain came and went several times throughout the day; it was sudden and sharp enough to cause me to double-over twice.

However, with no bleeding, spotting, cramps, chills, fever, dizziness, contractions or anything else that would be cause for concern, I chalked it up to “just another pregnancy pain,” and turned to the Internet. A few quick searches reassured me that this pain is quite common, and is called “round ligament pain.”

With a name for my most-recent pregnancy symptom, a quick search on Babies Online turned up even more details and information on round ligament pain, which is extremely common in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.

The pain is caused by the stretching and thinning of the thick ligaments that suspend your uterus within your abdomen. The pain may be worse (or, in my case, appear for the first time) after extensive exercise. If this is the case, rest should help alleviate the pain. I’m hoping to feel better tomorrow!

I found that changing positions (from sitting to standing) or, if I was already standing when the pain struck, bending or stretching, helped. After one particularly sharp pain that left me nearly breathless, walking around my house alleviated the discomfort. Rubbing the spot gently also helped.

Your doctor or midwife may recommend Tylenol if the pain is so bad that you can’t sleep or it’s keeping you from functioning normally. You can also try applying a heating pad, taking a warm bath or standing under a warm shower, although pregnant women are advised to avoid hot tubs or extremely hot baths.

Some symptoms may seem similar to round ligament pain but may actually point to a dangerous medical problem. When should you be concerned?

If the pain emanates from the lower right portion of your abdomen and is accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and fever, this could signify appendicitis. Since some statistics show that 1 in every 2,000 pregnant women are diagnosed with appendicitis, it is important to get treatment immediately if you suspect this may be the cause of your pain. Pain from appendicitis will typically get worse over time rather than coming and going in short bursts.

If the pain is accompanied by blood in your urine, you could be passing a kidney stone.

Ovarian cysts or an ectopic pregnancy could be the cause of sharp abdominal pains, but this is more common in the first trimester.

Several articles I’ve read about round ligament pain describe my symptoms exactly, and I don’t have any “warning signs” of these other problems. This was enough to put my mind at ease. However, if you are in pain and can’t pinpoint the cause, call your health care provider immediately. It is probably nothing, but peace of mind is important during pregnancy.

As for me, I’m going to take a hot shower and hope these newest pains subside and don’t wake me during the night. And I’ve certainly learned my lesson about overdoing it with exercise.

The good news? Like any other pregnancy symptom, they will be gone in a matter of months.

The information in this post intended solely as a general educational aid and is not a substitute for medical or other professional advice and services from a qualified health care provider. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Very few things in life rattle you like a screaming baby that just can’t be comforted. The frustration, fear and anger experienced by most parents with an infant that can’t be consoled is very real, and very rarely talked about.

My second child was a screamer. She came out screaming and now, 13 years later, is still intense. I remember asking the nurses to take her back to the nursery so I could sleep during my hospital stay because I was overwhelmed with the amount of crying quite frankly. I remember them bringing around the babies for feeding time and hearing a screaming infant being wheeled down the hall in a bassinet. The screaming stopped outside of my door and I realized that the screaming infant was indeed my child.

Several days after she was born, she developed a severe case of jaundice and was re-admitted to the hospital. She was placed under special lights to help with the jaundice and her eyes were covered to protect them from the lights. I remember quite vividly how lethargic and quiet the other ill infants were. My child was screaming and ripping her mask off, so frequently in fact, that a nurse was assigned to stay over her crib and put the mask back on when she ripped it off. She was inconsolable, even though she was very ill.

I learned some very important lessons during those early years. I’d like to share them with you!

• A support network is vital. I didn’t have any family support, but I did have a network of helpful friends I could call when I felt super stressed.
• Take care of yourself! I hired a college student for a few hours a week so I could at least sleep or pamper myself a little without dealing with the screaming.
• I took my child to the doctor for a complete physical. I took my child to a second doctor when the first doctor suggested it was my fault or that I was just too sensitive. The second doctor found that my child actually had severe ear infections which were causing her pain. I took her to a third doctor when the second doctor prescribed my infant large doses of antibiotics which created side effects.
• I learned to swaddle my child! This really works.
• I learned that sometimes, you need to put your child in a safe place(like a crib) and walk away if you get super stressed and if there is no apparent reason for the screaming.
• Keep ‘gas drops’on hand. These are wonderful if your child has gas pain! They can be found in any drug store.
• Ask your doctor about changing formula types, or if you are nursing, see if certain foods might bother your baby. For example, when I ate tomatoes while nursing my son, he would refuse to nurse. I quickly gave up tomatoes, and foods prepared using tomato sauce, which was actually not an easy thing to do!

My fifth child was a very calm, easy going baby and I was so thankful! But the lessons I learned with my second child matured me and made me a stronger person.

In a perfect world, all babies would be healthy and would be easy to be consoled. We don’t live in a perfect world though. Hopefully, the above tips will be helpful to you if you are dealing with some of the issues with which I was dealing.

Do you have tips you’d like to share? Has something been very effective for you in calming your infant when he or she is upset? Please share!

Does labor hurt? Why yes, it certainly does.

You’ll hear many different stories from many different moms who talk about their own labor experiences, and one thing you’ll notice is that everyone has a different take on the subject. Some women will tell tales of horrible, gut-wrenching pain that they never forgot while other women will tell you that while there was some painful moments, for the most part everything was tolerable.

Where will you land in the pain spectrum when it comes to your labor? Chances are you will probably land somewhere in the middle. Labor is going to hurt – there is no doubt about that – but how much it hurts will depend on a lot of things:

1. Your tolerance for pain

2. Your labor

3. Any pain reduction methods you use

When I was in labor I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, this really hurts!” which turned into “Holy moley, I don’t know how much more of this I can take!” which eventually became “This hurts so much I will do anything to get this baby out of me NOW.”

Honestly, getting a tattoo on my tongue while getting continously whacked with a hot poker would have probably hurt less.

The thing about labor pain, though, is that it results in a baby and that’s what makes it tolerable. Plus – at least for me – once the labor was over the really bad pain was completely gone.

So don’t worry too much about how much labor is going to hurt. Yes, it’s going to hurt, but the pain goes away quickly and it’s all worth it. No amount of worry is going to make it hurt any less (in fact it will probably make it hurt more), so try not to dwell on it.

Labor hurts, but after you’re done with it, all other pain seems like a cakewalk.

It’s something mothers can’t bear to see – their babies in pain. Unfortunately, babies get hurt each time they get inoculated. There are many reasons why parents opt for no vaccinations and this is one of them.

I, for one, am for immunization but my heart bled with each needle prick that my babies got. And since I have twins, I always had to take another adult with me, my husband, my mother-in-law, a friend. For how could I comfort and cuddle two babies in pain at the same time?

A new research study shows that sugar water can ease babies` injection pains. The solution is very weak (25% sucrose) so that parents don’t have to worry about the sugar’s effect on the babies` weight, blood sugar levels and teeth. Babies aged 2 to 4 months old given sugar water had 78% lower pain scores than babies who received sterile water only during vaccination visits.

During the first 2 years of a child`s life, he or she gets more than 20 injections and multiple shots are usually given in each visit. A simple, cheap and safe way to ease a child`s pain during these injections is necessary. Find out about the CDC 2008 Immunization Schedule in a previous post.

Sources:

Healthday News, 4 Feb 2008.

Hatfield et al.Analgesic Properties of Oral Sucrose During Routine Immunizations at 2 and 4 Months of Age. Pediatrics, Feb 2008; 121: e327 – e334.