Antibiotics given for RDS and I’m mad about it

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kingskid001

New member
Hi all- I’m not a frequent poster so hopefully I’m doing this right! My baby is 6 months old and doing great, but I can’t get over the trauma of his birth. I had a super easy pregnancy and went in for induction at 40+4, at my OB’s suggestion but not for any medical reason. I got a membrane sweep and went into labor. While in labor, the nurses and resident MD’s told me another mom was in labor and “it isn’t going well” and she may need emergency c-section to save the baby. Knowing that my baby was measuring very large, I became terrified that he would get stuck or injured during birth. At the first sign of distress, I requested a c-section. He came out 9lb 9oz. Everything was great until 5 hours after delivery, I noticed signs of respiratory distress, and he was whisked off to NICU. I have a daughter with severe asthma, who had been at the PICU in this same hospital, so this was extremely triggering. He received meningitis levels of antibiotics till they could confirm he didn’t need it, then reduced to regular levels of amp and gent for total of 5 days.

I feel angry and violated because I don’t think he ever had an infection. His CRP was 1. His X-ray showed fluid in the lung, but of course it did- it was amniotic fluid. The X-ray tech said it was pneumonia?! I feel like the healthcare system has a blanket approach and did not look at the facts of his situation and it feels so unfair to both of us that he had-what I believe to be- unnecessary interventions that can affect him for life.

Im in therapy and starting EMDR, but I’m really stuck on this. It helps to hear about others who had babies on antibiotics who are fine now.

Edit: thank you so much for all your responses. This is exactly what I needed to hear to snap out of my anxiety and be grateful I have my baby. I hope we can all remember to show compassion to all new moms, because postpartum anxiety is real and can be devastating, regardless of how the birth turns out. I will keep working to heal. So grateful for all the stories about your babies and how resilient they are, and for NICU staff who do such emotionally tough work everyday. Thank you so much ❤️
 
@kingskid001 Honestly? This antibiotic regimen is the standard of care for RDS. It saves lives of NICU babies every day. Do you get mad and feel “violated and angry” that you had to wear a seatbelt in the car every time you drive and don’t get into an accident? It’s the standard of care because the risks are much much smaller than the benefits. Those “unnecessary interventions” may have saved his life, and you’re angry about them? Is this because you dislike modern medicine in general? I honestly don’t understand your anger that your child received appropriate medical care that you—-someone who is not a neonatologist as far as we’re aware—deem might not have been needed based on what exactly? WebMD? Sketchy Facebook Moms Groups?
 
@sandlapper3 This. Almost every baby who needs NICU admission, especially for respiratory issues, will get antibiotics as standard of care because the risks of routine abx are soooo low compared to the risks of an untreated infection in a newborn. I’d much rather my baby get antibiotics they don’t need, than become critically ill and and wonder why their medical team didn’t start such a basic and simple intervention.

OP, it’s very valid and okay to feel trauma related to baby’s birth and unexpected NICU stay, I’d guess that most of us here have experienced that to some level. But of all the things to be upset about, routine antibiotics is a strange one to fixate on.
 
@straykat Agree. My son had routine antibiotics as part of his nicu stay until they knew he was in the clear for anything requiring them. He was born at 35 weeks and was in respiratory distress and needed intubation and surfactant, etc. to help his lungs. I wasn’t thrilled that he received unnecessary antibiotics, but the alternative was he didn’t get them and we found out he did have something like meningitis and he had life altering consequences from that. He’s a perfectly healthy 2 year old now. I definitely have nicu ptsd still, but honestly unnecessary antibiotics are at the bottom of my list of things that bothered me about his stay.
 
@straykat Yeah, my son was in respiratory failure at birth. The infection he had was in his spinal fluid and major organs & he was in sepsis. He was on the first round of antibiotics for six weeks, and then another four week course for another infection two weeks later. He had a long NICU stay—over 3 months—but is a happy and healthy kid with mild asthma now.
 
@straykat Exactly its a better safe than sorry scenario, and it will help with a little immune boost and lung strength (from my understanding I could be wrong). If it doesn't hurt and can only help, why not? Now if it was something that bubs didn't need that could have sideffects, that's a different story.
 
@sandlapper3 Agreed. Think of if it was the opposite. “My baby is circling the drain or passed on because they didn’t start treatment until after all testing was confirmed”

NICU’s don’t eff around with respiratory issues and infections. The risk/reward of antibiotics is 100% worth it
 
@sandlapper3 Yeah I feel like it's easier to say you're "violated and angry" because the child was ok. Had he needed the antibiotics, would the feelings of upset over not being consulted first, when every second counts, have been the same? Almost certainly not. It's easy to feel out of control when you have a child in th NICU but transferring that into antagonistic relationships with the staff will make everything worse.
 
@sandlapper3 I’m guessing my post touched a nerve. We’ve nearly lost my 5 year old to asthma and had really traumatic hospitalizations with her, so my greatest fear was that my son would also get asthma. The research on the microbiome suggests antibiotics and wiping out the gut bacteria likely plays a role in the development of asthma and allergies. I can see from everyone’s responses that my emotional response is not proportional to what actually happened, and that other babies go through much more and end up to be healthy kids. I do understand your point and appreciate your comment and insight.
 
@kingskid001 Hey, I peeked at your post history, and it sounds like you’ve had a rough go of it during pregnancy. That, coupled with the trauma of your daughter’s PICU stay, might have you reeling with a sense of not being in control. I don’t have any good advice for you, other than to say that I’m glad you’re taking steps to heal.
 
@kingskid001 Congrats on your little one. I’m sorry you’re upset about how things played out.

I think maybe you didn’t get the best explanations about the treatment from your NICU team. RDS in an term baby is never normal, needing a little bit of support after a c-section, sure, but full blown RDS, no.

In babies one of the first signs of an infection is respiratory distress. We will draw blood cultures, sometimes an LP, do an x-ray and start antibiotics for all of them who present with RDS. We do this because if we don’t start antibiotics and miss an infection, the baby can decompensate and even die before the results of the blood cultures comes back.

Regarding the x-ray, even if the tech who did the x-ray was thinking pneumonia - they don’t make a call regarding treatment. The images are reviewed by the NICU medical team and a radiologist (MD). There are significant differences between wet lungs, RDS and pneumonia.

Again, I’m sorry you feel so violated and this was certainly not the newborn experience you were wanting or expecting. That said, the alternative and not treating and missing an infection can be lifelong on the child, or a dead baby.
 
@kingskid001 Congrats on your little one. It’s hard to feel like they received interventions that were unnecessary or that your child isn’t being treated as an individual. That said, it’s important to remember that hindsight is 20/20. You were right as a mom to raise your concerns to the doctors that your little one was having respiratory distress because if he had been in trouble and you hadn’t spoken up things could have gotten bad very quickly. Similarly, if he had an infection and the doctors hadn’t treated it, that could have been potentially devastating. You and the doctors were doing the best you could for your baby with the information you had at the time.

Luckily, the vast vast majority of babies who receive these antibiotics don’t have any longer term issues.

Please do continue to seek help so you can put this behind you and focus on how to continue being the best mom you can be.
 
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