Disclosure: I was offered a payment to write and share this post on newborn screenings, but I decided to ask that my fee be donated to the Save Babies Through Screening Foundation.
When your baby is born, there’s a lot that goes on. Height and weight measurements, quick listens to heart and lungs, a rub down and baby is *usually* handed to mom.
Not me. At least not the first two times.
In 2008, as a first time parent that had just gone through a traumatic childbirth with a baby that was in respiratory distress when he was born, I just chalked that little bandaid contraption strapped to his toe as just another wire he was attached to.. But those little wires save lives.
My SECOND NICU experience (as if one wasn’t enough) I was a little more aware, and had nurses that filled me in a little more. (I was so shell shocked the first time around) That little wire with the bandaid was a Pulse Oximetry test.
A Pulse Oximetry test is really simple and not at all invasive (not unlike so many other things we go through in the hospital.) Why is it important? It tests the oxygen levels in your blood. Here’s the crazy thing. It isn’t a standard test. Of course, after two NICU babies, I assumed it was. However, at the Blogger Baby Shower in 2011 hosted by The Baby Ladies, I learned that wasn’t the case.
In fact, newborn screenings vary by state.
Despite the rough starts of my older two children, they both passed their newborn screenings with flying colors.
1 in 300 babies are born every year with a detectable disorder. That’s why newborn screenings are so important.
This September, take a moment to learn more about newborn screening and spread the word to another mom. Use Baby’s First Test and the Save Babies Through Screening Foundation as resources–their websites are both FILLED with statistics, information, how to get support, videos, and more.
You can also find them on social media:
Baby’s First Test: twitter and facebook
Save Babies: twitter and facebook
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