Our Brave Fighter, Isaiah (Part 2)

We brought Isaiah home on Thursday when he was 5 days old. On Friday evening, I realised that Clare felt a little warm and we fed her Paximol. We also tried to separate Clare and Isaiah. Clare continued to have a low grade fever.

On Saturday night, when I was breastfeeding Isaiah, I thought he felt a little warm. I asked Damon to confirm and he thought so too. We measured his temperature and to our greatest fear, his temperature was 37.8. I panicked and Damon suggested bringing him to Mt Alvernia A&E. We called my parents over. My mother followed us and my father stayed behind with Clare who was sleeping.

When we reached Mt Alvernia, the nurse at the reception counter measured Isaiah's temperature using the non-contact forehead thermometer and said there was no fever. We were so relieved. We waited for our turn to see the doctor. The doctor re-measured his temperature and said he was running a low grade temperature. He also said that the standard procedure for new born babies with fever, was to have them admit into hospital for observation and to find out the exact cause of the fever. I broke down when I heard that.

The nurse called Isaiah's pd and he said he would rush down immediately. I was very touched as it was already past midnight. The nurse then pushed Isaiah to the ward.

I just kept carrying Isaiah in my arms and a while later, his pd arrived. He examined him and said that he preferred to have Isaiah in the neonatal intensive care unit where he would be cared for by the nurses there round the clock. The only problem was no parents would be allowed overnight or to stay with the baby all the time. I was so upset then that I could not think. Damon decided that would be in his best interest.

The pd said he would run a urine test and a blood test for Isaiah. He also said they would get some spinal liquid to do some testing too. I really freaked out at that moment. They pushed him to the NICU and we were told to stay outside to wait.

That was the most agonising wait for me. I could not see what they were doing to him but I could imagine him in pain and feeling very frightened and insecure and crying away. As the NICU was near the nursery, we could hear a lot of babies crying and I hated myself for not being able to tell it any of the cries belonged to Isaiah.

After a long long wait, the pd finally came out and asked me to go in to see Isaiah. My heart broke when I first stepped into the room. Isaiah was stripped naked, not even with the diaper on as they needed to collect his urine. He was placed under a heater that caused his skin to dry up wvwn after such a short time. I could see his skin peeling, especially on the tummy area. He looked so small and helpless, with a IV insert on his arm. There are also wires attached to him, to monitor his heartbeat and temperature. His little foot was also bandaged at the heel because of the blood test. I could not control myself and I cried.

The nurse asked me if I wanted to pump out the milk so that they could feed him later as he had to wait an hour later to drink due to the procedures done. I borrowed the hospital pump and pumped out some milk for him. Then we had to leave Isaiah at the hospital.

When I got home, Clare had apparently woken up and she was so relieved to see me. She asked me where was Didi and I teared. I hugged her and we fell asleep together.

The next morning, we received a call fom the pd and said that Isaiah's condition had stabilised and could be transferred to a normal ward. I was so ecstatic! I packed some clothes and sent Clare to my mother's place.

We stayed in the hospital with Isaiah for another 3 days. Isaiah had low grade fever for the first day and the fever didn't return for the next two days. After some blood tests on the third day, the pd said we could be discharged.

I was so relieved. The 3 days at the hospital were very stressful. We worried that the fever would come back, we were heartbroken when the nurse came in each time to administer medicine to Clare into the IV tube. We worried about Clare who was still nursing a low-grade fever at home without her father and mother by her side. We wondered what she could be thinking, why all three of us were not around with her.

But thank God we have supportive family, parents and friends. We are also very thankful for the MPC community who showed their support and love by storming heaven with their prayers for our two little ones. I pray that God will continue to watch over Clare and Isaiah and bless them with good health always! =)

Isaiah wants to thank everyone for all your prayers, love and support!