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Newborn Screen
Please read the disclaimer. The Metabolic Newborn Screen, also known as the heal stick or heal prick test, also known as the PKU, screens your baby for disorders that are not part of the genetic testing that can be done during pregnancy. It is done by poking the baby’s heal and making it bleed, much like a finger prick to test blood sugar. The blood is collected on a specially treated paper and sent to a lab in Baton Rouge (or Little Rock if in AR). The lab screens for 28 different disorders. A full list of the disorders with their…
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The Birth Plan
What is a Birth Plan? A Birth Plan is a written or typed document prepared during pregnancy with instructions and preferences for care providers during labor and immediate postpartum. Templates abound on the internet, usually covering common hospital procedures and prohibitions such as I.V.s, eating and drinking, mobility, offering of pain medications, avoiding cesareans, and newborn procedures that include circumcision for boys, Vitamin K, prophylactic antibiotics for their eyes, Hepatitis B vaccine and offering artificial nipples. What a Birth Plan is Not A Birth Plan is not a binding contract. It does not obligate any of your care providers in…
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Repeat CBC
Please read the disclaimer. The Repeat CBC The CBC is a Complete Blood Count, a test that quantifies different components of blood. It is one of the blood tests performed at the beginning of pregnancy, is offered again around 28 weeks of pregnancy, and if anemia is found, it is offered a third time around 36 weeks to see how treatments for anemia are working. Occasionally, it is requested every week after 36 weeks until a comfortable value for out of hospital birth is achieved. The midwife will go over your values with you after every test. White Blood Cells…
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Vitamin K
Please read the disclaimer. Two Things There are two parts to this, but they fit together. First, babies are born Vitamin K deficient. Second, Vitamin K is essential for blood to clot. Lets look at each separately, then put them together to see why it is recommended that all babies are given Vitamin K after they are born. The Problem Bacteria in our intestines produce Vitamin K during digestion. However, since newborns have never digested any greens, they have not had the opportunity to manufacture the bacteria that produces any Vitamin K. They are born Vitamin K deficient. Eating foods…
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Erythromycin aka Eye Goop
Please read the disclaimer. Many, many first pictures of newborns show them with a clear, Vaseline looking kind of ointment in their eyes. This “eye goop” is an antibiotic called Erythromycin. It protects the baby from different kinds of eye infections and from blindness in case the mother has Chlamydia and/or Gonorrhea and doesn’t know. The ointment does not burn the baby’s eyes, but it does make their vision blurry for about 30 minutes. Let’s Back Up People are tested for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea at their first prenatal appointment with their OB. When there is a positive results, the person…
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Group B Strep
Please read the disclaimer. Group B Strep (or GBS) is a bacteria that lives in our large intestines. We all have it. It is part of our normal gut flora. Sometimes, this bacteria travels from the anus to the vagina. When it does, there are no symptoms. No odor. It may come and go, and come back again. In fact, the only way to know when the vagina has been colonized with GBS is to test for it. It is not sexually transmitted. It is not a matter of cleanliness. Most of the time, it is not an issue. The…