My Daughter S Battle With Pneumothorax

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All this time as the due date was approaching, there's only one thing that pop into my head. Will it very painful? But it never crossed my mind that my baby might be poorly

A few minutes after my little angel Hawraa was born, the doctors found that her vital signs were poor. I caught a glimpse of her as her body had a lot of meconium (newborn feces) present. She also have a bluish color around her neck and lips. They immediately took her away because she needed help breathing

My feelings were all over the place – I felt she was in good hands but I was really worried. I desperately wanted to know if it was serious. 
A few hours later I found out she had a congenital pneumonia (in result of meconium aspiration) and need to be given an antibiotic regimen intravenously for 5 consecutive days. 
Hawraa when she was in NICU
Well misfortunes seldom come alone, she also diagnosed with pneumothorax (a collapsed lung) and she’d need to stay in the special care baby unit. She was on 100 per cent oxygen and couldn't breathe on her own. She had also suffer from oxygen deprivation as a result of meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS)

This is so heartbreaking. This was not how I imagined my first girl would come into the world (third pregnancy only I get baby girl). Emotionally, I found it really difficult. 
Why does birth problem always happen to me over and over again? 
In 2013, my son delivered prematurely by emergency caesarean section, then in 2015 I gave birth my second son, with secondary perineal tear. And the latest, my angel Hawraa born with MAS

My instinct said, all these happened because of the health care workers failed to monitor me and the baby during birth as they're not recognizing early signs of fetal distress. Unfortunately at that time I just remain silent because I had zero knowledge about birth injury

Source : birthinjuryguide.org"When meconium is aspirated into the lungs it can block the baby's airways", doctor explained. "Airway obstruction increases resistant when exhaling. Gas gets trapped, and the lung may be hyperinflated. As a result, the the lung can rupture and collapse or also know as pneumothorax."

What is PneumothoraxPneumothorax comes from two Greek words: pneumo – air, and thorax - chest

A pneumothorax is an abnormal collection of air in the pleural space between the lung and the thoracic wall. It occurs when some of the tiny air sacs (alveoli) in a baby's lung become overinflated and burst. This causes air to leak into the pleural space

Causes of pneumothorax in babiesthey have breathing problems, such as respiratory distress syndrome (RDS)they have breathed in meconium they are premature and their lung tissue is fragile.
How is it treated?If there is only a small amount of air and the pneumothorax is small, it can get better with time. If there is a large amount of air it can make it hard for your child to breathe and it needs to be removed using a needle or a chest drain

What is a chest drain?A chest drain is a flexible plastic tube that is inserted through the chest wall. The drain allows air out but not back in, so the baby’s lung can re-inflate. 
Finally we're going homeFortunately Hawraa's pneumothorax healed itself within nine days. It was a huge relief because she doesn't need to experience chest drain procedure. Hawraa and I could go home together at day ten


The wisdom behind hard timesSomeone has said the truth a burnt child dreads the fire. Since I have experienced a lot of problems at birth, I became more mindful and started looking for information about birth injuries. 
I did a lot of online searches about our rights as parents in situations where birth injuries occurred, and I stumbled upon birthinjuryguide.org website




From this site, I just learned that the effects of having penumothorax and hypoxia are related to Hawraa's speech delay problem. Hawraa was diagnosed with speech delay at the age of 19 weeks and still undergoing speech therapy to date

According to the expert from the website, oxygen deprivation at birth is one of the common cause of developmental delays and this can be legally claimed as birth injury caused by medical negligence.  It’s quite daunting as a mom to be sure we’re doing the right thing for our baby but reading info here’s so reassuring

Although we did not make any lawsuits against the negligent health care professional, it was a huge relief when we got our speech therapy treatment for free of charge, here, at the same health facility where Hawraa was delivered

What I would like to let any parents in a similar situation know should they be reading this,  don't hesitate to seek birth injury advocacy group and get some help to figure out the cause of your child’s injury — and what you can do next. 
Find the one that are available to hear your story and can support you with free legal consultation online or by phone, like what Birth Injury Guide do

Reach them via phone at 877-415-6603 and you can talk to them about anything - from how to manage your condition, to getting to know about compensation that may be available for birth injuries or medical negligence. 
Hope this helps

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