Arnau

Arnau
24-hour-old Arnau

Saturday, December 4, 2010

All'ospedale! To the hospital!

Eravamo a casa da una decina di giorni, tutto perfetto.
Arnau aveva preso un ottimo ritmo, aveva anche imparato che di notte era meglio dormire un po' di piú che di giorno, mangiava bene, cresceva, molto regolare.
Ecco perché quando la notte scorsa all'una del mattino aveva vomitato e poi per ore ha rifiutato il latte della mamma, abbiamo subito capito che qualcosa non andava. Il pianto non era di fame, ma di dolore. L'istinto della mamma non ha sbagliato: immediatamente all'ospedale di prima mattina!
Si pensava a un'infezione, qualcosa di facile da curare, e l'idea dell'ospedale era principalmente per potergli dare un po' di liquidi con una flebo, dopo le tante ore a digiuno.
Peró Arnau era molto pallido.
Le prime analisi del sangue sono state interpretate come un errore, per cui sono state ripetute: i valori erano troppo bassi per essere reali. Purtroppo un secondo esame ha confermato che qualcosa davvero non andava. Il valore piú preoccupante era la emoglobulina, a 4, invece di valori normali per un bebé tra 10 e 14. Bisognava immediatamente fare una trasfusione.
Poi sono iniziate le ipotesi: un'infezione seria, oppure un problema di anticorpi (tipico in casi di conflitto di tipo di sangue tra mamma e neonato, peró questo non era il caso di Arnau).
Arnau é dovuto rimanere in ospedale, giá nell'unitá di cure intensive per neonati, per poter ricevere le trasfusioni, flebo e nutrienti necessari per la notte.
Siamo andati a dormire preoccupati, peró in un certo senso rassicurati che la situazione sembrava sotto controllo e che Arnau era nel posto migliore per guarire.

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We had already spent about 10 days at home with Arnau, everything was perfect.
He was also starting to learn the difference between night and day, he was eating and sleeping very well, following regular patterns, he was gaining weight...
That's also why, when last night at 1am he threw up and then for hours refused mom's milk, we immediately understood that something was wrong. Arnau was not crying because he was hungry, but he because he was in pain.
Mom's instinct was not wrong: we immediately went to the hospital early in the morning!
The initial guess was an infection, something easy to cure, and the thought was that at a minimum, being in the hospital, Arnau could have received intravenous nutrients and liquids to recover from several hours without food.
He was starting to be very pale.
The first blood analysis were thought to be a mistake of the machine, hence they were repeated: some metrics were too low to be true. Unfortunately, the repeated test confirmed that something was really wrong. The most worrying value was the hemoglobin, at 4 instead of the standard 10-14 range, expected for a newborn. A blood transfusion was needed urgently.
Doctors started to review options and possible causes: maybe a serious infection, or a problem with antibodies (something common in cases of conflicting blood type between mom and newborn, something which however was not the case for Arnau).
Arnau had to be checked-in in the intensive care unit for newborns, to spend at least the night, and receive more blood transfusions and intravenous nutrients.
We went to sleep a bit worried, but in a way reassured that the situation seemed to be under control and Arnau was in the best possible place to start to get better.

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