Just 11 days old

In her short 11 days of life our poor little girl has been through a lot. She came into the world and was whisked away from me onto a warming table to be examined by doctors (because of the meconium and risk of infection). Day two she was sent to the NICU for a round of blood tests, x-rays and IV antibiotics. She stayed in the NICU for day two, three and four, connected to wires and laying in a plastic tub. On day five she was finally home with us, but scheduled to see her pediatrician who ordered yet another blood test to check her jaundice levels. So, we were sent back to the hospital outpatient lab for blood-work. Thank goodness she was home with us all week and was able to be snuggled and loved before returning to another doctors office. On day eleven, however, we returned to her pediatrician who said she was gaining weight well (an ounce a day, back to her birth weight!) and her jaundice looked great. He also said that her newborn metabolic screening ("heal-prick" test) was normal, which was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders because of the possibility of galactosemia and her brother being a carrier for the disease. Things seemed to be going well, until the doc noticed a heart murmur that concerned him. He ordered her to see a pediatric cardiologist for a heart ECHO (ultrasound) that same day. The 30 minute procedure of her little heart revealed that she has a mild pulmonary valve stenosis or narrowing of the valve due to the tissue being thicker than normal. He said it's fairly common and will usually heal on it's own, but she will need to be closely monitored for the first year of her life. We see the pediatrician again in a few weeks for her one month appointment (and shots). I'm already dreading it. I'm anxious to see how she's growing, but not looking forward to seeing her receive more shots. Poor little thing. In the past eleven days she's seen more specialists than I have in years. The good news is that everything sounds mild and probably won't affect her life, but it frustrates me that the doctors thought that these issues were so urgent that a newborn be seen right away. As a mother you worry about the health of your babies and want to do what's right for them, but in hindsight, I wish we would have waited on some of these tests. Lets just hope insurance covers all of them...