So our beautiful baby boy was born on the 13th June at 15.09. Baby Boy Waddams (as he was officially known for the first few hours of his life) was of course given to Faye at first for a cuddle before he was taken away to be cleaned up. I stayed with Faye to make sure she was ok and that she was getting seen to (I knew that our Baby was in the capable hands of Rosie and his Auntie Dave a.k.a Steph). Once I knew Faye was ok I went over to have a proper look at my Son. He was beautiful. He was still crying, which was re-assuring as it meant that he was breathing properly and was waiting to be dressed. So I dressed him very carefully – I was unbelievably nervous of hurting him, but Faye’s GP Midwife had come over to me and was telling me that I wouldn’t hurt him and that what I was doing was absolutely fine. Once he was dressed and I’d had had a cuddle it was off to inform all our friends and family that our baby boy was here! Now once those formalities were out of the way and even more tears had been shed, it was back to the reality of having a baby! Once the Midwife’s had finished their checks on both Faye and Baby we were whisked off to the postnatal ward, where Faye was given a private room due to her being High Risk. An added bonus to the private room was that I was able to stay with Faye and Baby overnight. (I’ll get to the first night in a bit; I’ve not told you all how we came to give Baby Boy Waddams his name)
So we were in our private room and Auntie Dave (a.k.a Steph) was waiting to leave to go and get her brood to come and meet baby. But she didn’t want to go without knowing his name. Given that she’d been by our side we decided to tell her. We had a shortlist of three and I told Faye that I loved all three and that it was up to her to name him because she’d done all the hard work in bringing him into the world (I only did the fun bit 8 ½ months before…). So Faye said that our Baby Boy’s name was Noah and I was over the moon for three reasons:
We had a good few more visitors that evening but when they’d all been and gone and it was only Faye, Noah and I was when the fun started. Now on top of the epidural that Faye had been given during labour she was also taking Clobazam and one of the big side effects of Clobazam is tiredness. So it was Daddy’s first night duty and it was probably my most sleepless. Every peep from Noah had me up out of my bed to check on him, and we were feeding him every 3 hours so between each peep and the feeds I doubt I got more than an hours sleep at a time. But I’d do it all over again make no mistake about that. So day two of Noah’s life and we encountered our first “WTF” moment. The doctor who did the rounds came in a saw Faye and Noah and had this bit of brilliant quote: “Your birth plan says you are to see a member of the neurology team before you are discharged, I don’t understand why.” Someone who suffers from Epilepsy just had a baby and had their meds played with for 9 months DOESN’T need to see a Neurologist!? I know it was a Sunday morning but come on! Read the notes before you make stupid comments! It took Faye explaining to her that she then decided that she would “go along” with the Birth Plan and get the on call neurologist to come and see Faye. When the on call Neurologist turned up Faye had to go over her medical history with her and then how Noah’s birth had played havoc with her epilepsy. The on call Neurologist told Faye to “up her Keppra” if she felt she needed to. Obviously Faye wasn’t happy with this, and neither was I. Faye’s Neurologist and obstetrician had said that once baby was born that they would put a detailed plan into place on getting Faye’s drugs back down to her normal dosage. So it was conflicting with what Faye’s team had said to just “up” the Keppra (which was the secondary drug for Faye and it was only introduced during pregnancy). Faye explained why she wasn’t happy with it and then explained what her Neurologist had put in place for during labour, and the on call Neuro then agreed that Faye should carry on with that until she saw either her Neurologist or her Neurology Nurse. It was a bit like hitting our heads against the wall because no-one knew about Faye’s unique situation. I’m 100% sure that if Noah had been born any day Sunday-Thursday we would have been seen to by Faye’s Neurology team and everything would have been absolutely fine. On his second day in the world we also found out that Noah was very close to the jaundice line so we wouldn’t be let home until his levels came down. This ended up with us spending a full week in the hospital before we went home. Before we actually got let home Faye’s obstetrician just decided to pop in a see how we were all doing. He listened to all of Faye’s concerns about Noah and her medication and he reassured her that Noah was perfectly healthy and would be fine. He also made a call to Faye’s Neurology Nurse (ON HIS DAY OFF) to make sure that he would book Faye in to see the team that week. We thanked him for everything he had done then and everything he had done for Faye throughout her pregnancy. He really is amazing and had gone above and beyond what was expected of him throughout his time looking after Faye. I will forever be grateful to him. Contact us: Twitter: @fairyfaye1986 Email: [email protected] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/739520702798749/
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AuthorMy names Faye, mostly known for being a tea addict, swimmer and now Paralegal and part time student. I'm 36, married and I had my 1st (and only) child in June 2015. Oh and I also happen to have epilepsy. This is my story of Pregnancy, Motherhood & Epilepsy and the voice I have become for those with epilepsy. Archives
December 2022
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