PeekabooNWA

It Happened to Us

Posted on 31. Dec, 2009 by admin in Personal Stories

On June 16th 2008, we arrived at our pediatrician’s office for our very first post hospital appointment for our premature triplet babies. These tiny miracles were just a few days shy of 4 weeks old. The appointment was supposed to be a routine exam entailing little more than making sure the babies were gaining weight and to see if they needed a formula change.

The appointment was with the same pediatrician we had been using for our two-year-old daughter. Needless to say, we had complete trust and confidence in this doctor and the clinic.

After delicately unloading and undressing our tiny babies who had nearly no fat on their bodies, the nurse came in to get all the general post NICU discharge updates. After finding that each of them weighed in at a whopping 4 or 5 lbs., the doctor came in to answer our myriad of questions. The visit was routine, yet thorough, as the doctor examined each of our little bundles and answered our million and one questions without hesitation. We were feeling really good about how the babies were doing at this point.

Then, unexpectedly, our doctor asked if we wanted to go ahead and do their two month vaccinations.

What? “Can they have them now?” we asked.

“Sure they can; it’ll save you a trip back,” he replied.

Not assured, we again asked, “Are they big enough and old enough at under 1 month old?”

“Yes,” the doctor again told us. “It is completely safe.”

Still very leery, we went over the vaccinations: Dtap, HepB, Hib, Pneumococcal, Polio, and Rotavirus. Wow, five shots and an orally administered live virus! We still felt very uneasy when the nurse walked through the door to administer the vaccines. In a last stitch effort for some kind of reassurance, we asked her if she was sure this was safe. the nurse left the room to ask the doctor, and returned with another “Yes.”

Against our parental instincts, we proceeded with the vaccinations.

As all babies do, the triplets screamed for five minutes straight. As all parents do, we endured the screaming and felt beyond terrible about our role in their pain. The babies barely had any muscle on their legs and these little legs that had just received five shots in them.

We carefully re-dressed and loaded them in the car driving just 20 mph the entire way home. Resettled in the comfort of our home, we were finally able to feel a little relief in our decision — a calm that was quickly shattered with a single ring of the telephone. It was the pediatric clinic calling to let us know there had been a terrible mistake — a mix up in the babies’ birth dates! The babies were not supposed to have been given any of those vaccines at this age!

Still holding the phone in his hand, my husband Danny turned five shades of red, and I knew it was bad news. Not only did they receive shots they were not suppose to have, the oral live virus had the potential to make the babies extremely ill.

A million emotions rushed through me. Scared, mad, and upset could not accurately describe how we felt. We immediately called the NICU, where the babies had stayed their first few days of life, to get answers. The NICU was nice enough to try to answer our questions like what dose of Tylenol to give our screaming infants. Feeling overwhelmed, we called the clinic back and told them we needed to speak directly to the doctor about this incident.

On pins and needles, we waited for the phone to ring again. Finally, the doctor called and basically told us what’s done is done and that we had to redo the shots. The clinic called Arkansas Children’s Hospital and all the drug manufactures of the vaccines to ask advice and to file the necessary adverse event drug reports. Fortunately, because the babies were so tiny, their bodies wouldn’t recognize the vaccines. The triplets still had my maternal immune system antibodies, but we still had to wait for over a week to see if the live Rotovirus would make the babies ill. So, we were left waiting and terrified of what this could mean long term for our babies. No one could tell us anything for certain as it wasn’t a frequent occurrence. Arkansas Children’s Hospital assured us that we most likely would never see any problems from this accident.

The babies, now a year-and-a-half old, fortunately suffered no adverse affects from the vaccine scare so far, and yes, we have given all the injections again.

Unfortunately, my husband and I did suffer an emotional trauma that we will never forget. Needless to say, after the incident we found a new Pediatrician.

We still wish we would have been more aggressive in saying “No.” We knew better! This incident has made us ask more questions and to be more proactive with their medical care. While doctors are amazing and intelligent people, they too sometimes make mistakes. We are our children’s only voice, and it is our hope that our story will remind every parent that they are their child’s advocate and to not be afraid to say “No.”