Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Newborn screening woes

After Aaron was born I had to find some way to get his newborn screening done. I thought about getting an exemption but I wanted him tested. I called my old midwife(the one I used for Nick's birth) to see if she'd be willing and she was for a fee. So she came and poked him and filled the bubbles as best she could. She only brought one lancet and he didn't bleed very well so she did the best she could(though since that was ALL I asked her to do and I paid her I think she should have been better prepared). Today I got a letter asking for me to resubmit the test because the bubbles weren't filled well enough. The bubbles must be filled and the blood must show through on both side of the form. I'm certainly NOT calling her again. She was kind of rough with his foot and had she brought a second lancet all the extra effort wouldn't have even been needed. I called our peds office and they don't usually do them since most babies get it done at the hospital. I talked to the newborn nursery people at the hospital they are affiliated with and they don't do it unless the baby was born there. After calling around and then waiting for 2 hours they said they could refer me to have it done when I bring him in tomorrow. Then, I started to think. I remembered Zach's little heal after his. I'm also pretty sure they won't let me nurse him through like the midwife would. The only reason I couldn't do it myself is because I don't have the form. I called the Illinois Department of Public Health about it to see what I could find out about the retesting. I found out a couple facts: You don't need any special certification or training to be allowed to do this test. They don't even ask for the name of the person who did it if you check the homebirth box. The people in the office are very nice and more than willing to send you this form. Inhishands.com sells the lancets to prick baby's heal so I ordered 3 incase we run into a problem. The blood gets clotting ability at day 8 and Aaron, who is now almost 4 weeks old, barely bled on day 3. I'm assuming it'll be even more difficult to get enough blood than it was the first time. So, I'll do it myself. I wish I'd thought to call them before. I could have saved myself a lot of worry and time. If I ever have another baby in Illinois, I'll remember this info. I really hope it works this time. This whole newborn screening problem has been a huge pain in my butt.

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