"My newborn baby's admission to special care baby unit"

The care received during the labour by the midwives was excellent and they were very caring and compassionate. My baby was born at 36 weeks but thankfully he was still a good birth weight. The midwife advised he would be checked by the paediatrician with being premature.

The doctor came to see my husband and I and explained that he would be 'taking the baby' to check he was okay and this would include a lumbar puncture. He advised he would not be long and would bring the baby back as soon as possible. He then proceeded to take the baby in the cot and my husband asked do I come with you but advised no he was not to go with the doctor. Approximately five minutes later the doctor came to advise that the babies blood sugar was low and ask our permission to give him dextrose to which we stated yes if it made him well. He came back a little while later and asked was I happy for them to give him some formula milk as they were concerned he had not had a feed and they were aware I wanted to breastfeed but felt he was sleepy as required a feed. I agreed to this as just wanted my baby well.

Some time passed (at least an hour) and I became concerned that the baby was still not back with me so my husband asked the midwife where he was as we wanted to see him. She advised I will take you round so that you can see him. At this point no one had told us where the baby was so when we followed the midwife we did not know that he was in special care. We were shown in to a small room to see he was in an incubator attached to monitors and a nasogastric tube in his nose. Both my husband and I got a shock as we had not been prepared for what we seen and became very emotional especially myself as I had not long had a baby and now he was in special care.

Had the doctor had the decency to come back to the ward and explain to my husband and I that he would be attached to monitors etc then it would not have affected us in the way that it did. I feel that the doctor needs to be made aware of his actions as to this day it still upsets us that we were left in the dark and not advised that firstly he was in special care and secondly he did not prepare us for what we would see when we entered the unit. The care he received in special care from the nurses was excellent.