but I can take home leave so that we don’t have to stay in the hospital. Baby C is attacked by the E Coli bacteria (again) and Klebsiella bacteria (which is a strong bug) this time and she needs to have an IV line on her hand for antibiotics to be jabbed through the line. As expected, the dr. could not locate the vein on baby’s chubby hands and feet and she was poked 5 times!!! This time, I requested to be with Baby C in the Procedures Room and my request was acceded as I am considered a ‘regular’ at the hospital.

It was REALLY traumatic for Baby C this time as she was poked 5 times (thrice on her hands and once on each of her foot) as the dr. and nurses searched in vain for a vein. She was screaming with all her might in pain and even her favorite frozen water-filled teething ring or my embrace could not subdue her. The sight of the dr. poking the needle into Baby C’s hands and feet and injecting the antibiotics, in the hope that he had injected it into the vein, only to be rejected when blood oozed out through the needle was just too much for me to bear. Whenever this happened, it meant that the antibiotics wasn’t injected into the vein (well, I think that’s how it works. That’s why finding a vein is very important). The procedure looked as if Baby C’s skin was being skewered as the dr. pushed and pulled the needle back and forth through her skin, like a piece of chicken meat being skewered for bbq and it takes a strong heart to see the entire procedure.

After half an hour of torture and screaming for Baby C, the dr. gave up and said he could not find the vein and said that he will administer the jab via intra-muscular, which was very painful. That was the 6th time Baby C was poked within an hour.

It was another very stressful day for both Baby C and me and we have 4 more days to go as she needs 5 doses of antibiotics jab.

Back home, Baby C was all smiles again when she saw her 2 sisters. Luckily babies have short-term memory and Baby C will not remember any of these when she grows up. See the bandage on both her feet? There were 2 more bandages on her hands but I removed them coz Baby C was chewing on them.

Baby C’s UTI attacks are so frequent that I have my drawer stocked up with urine bags and sterile bottles!