Dr Shap's

Tag: pediatrics

  • Summary of week 3: Reality start to set in: YES WE ARE PARENTS

    After 3 weeks, more than 200 diapers changed, having cleaned all types of bodily fluids from clothes, hands and other places, I’m starting to understand  a famous quote “Aliza, I am you father” (Star Wars…) It’s amazing how many things you can do for you own son/daughter… But you know what I was actually forgetting, OUR OWN MOTHERS that created that opportunity for us.

    This week I had a nice telephone conversation, and the bottom line is: “You become selfless and devoted your life and soul to the new life that has been created”, and every letter of it is real. That’s why EVERY DAY IS MOTHERS DAY!

    Everybody tells you: the first month is the hardest!  But I think (on my 3 weeks of experience), that every stage will have it’s on twist. First it’s lack of sleep, changing diapers… In a couple of years we’ll be installing the GPS tracking device and training the “friendly dragon” to patrol her/him.

    There are so many books, opinions and of course stories telling us how to cure “the hiccups”, clean diapers and avoid having bad dreams…  In the end of the day, consistency from the parents, having  an open communication, setting goals and milestones, ARE THE REAL SMALL ACHIEVEMENTS THAT WILL DO A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR SON/DAUGHTERS LIFE…  Consistency is the name of the game.

    What I’ve learned this week for THE UNOFFICIAL MANUAL ON HOW A PEDIATRICIAN BECOMES A FATHER:

    1)      My diaper changing skills are changing, I’m faster, but the ratios of “diaper changed vs accidents when using diapers” are still high.

    2)      Hiccups are common in newborns, it is more a distress for the parents than the real baby

    3)      We just got some electronic hardware to make life and interaction easier with our family, the hard thing is making the software work

    4)      There are millions of APP’s out there… We found (MY WIFE…) an amazing app to follow/track/measure/time every important aspect of our daughters needs (not including college… heheheh) and you can track (and will remind you) when is the next feed, oz’s, times, diapers (pee/poop), length etc etc… And the most amazing thing is that “Daddy” (AKA: ME) can see the %, numbers and times on his phone to feel less OCD.

  • THE UNOFFICIAL MANUAL ON HOW A PEDIATRICIAN BECOMES A FATHER

     Everything started 44 weeks ago. Our life changed since that moment…  My wife showed the power of life, today, after 8 hours  of labour  that ended up  in a C/-section , If my wife tells me that she has pain, I WILL BELIEVE  HER! Anyway, going back to the topic, I have been part of deliveries and C- Section for at least 8 years, when you see your loved one, the monitor and the pain, face to face, everything changes. We went more than 39 weeks, we had an induction and after 8 hours of continuing labour ended in C/s, with a smile in everybody, having no complications for my wife or our daughter…

    That was was the beginning of an idea… Trying to correlate the “teachings” and education that I have gave to all my patients, families and friends. My first clash with reality was “breast is best”, but really we undermine the importance of having previous information, motivational and equipment to accomplish that. We did have a double problem, my baby was coombs positive and this was our first time breastfeeding.

     As a pediatrician, one of the simple things in life is, in this cases, to offer “more food” to have urine and bowel movements in order to decrease the “bili” levels, for does how choose formula is an a straight protocol, from bottle to mouth, but when you are breastfeeding and you only recover 2ml of colostrum (and I need to confess, is really hard to collect every drop, and sometimes, in the darkness of the room, once I drop the container, losing that priceless material)… The colostrum is the main source of energy to any newborn, enough to make them continue ticking, of when you actually need bowel movements and you have risk factors (and only breastfeeding) you need to be disciplined enough (we were waking up every 2 hours), and as every body knows, is not “2 real hours”, 1 hour of breastfeeding/waking up 1 hour of real life…

    Any way… For the first week I have learn that:

    1) Breastfeeding is important and can be done, but society, pediatricians and the family need to be motivated!

    2) Family support is a key factor to success

    3) I don’t know how created newborn clothing.. They are simply not smart.

    4) Probably there is a correlation in pediatrics only, “the more kids you have, the better Peds doctor you are…”

    5) How do you “sleep” the last month of pregnancy if you have everything in your mind plus you can actually wake up having your baby already delivered in your bed (that was my nightmare!!!)

    I will try to post the crazy/interesting/facts/etc that I’m learning, THE UNOFFICIAL MANUAL ON HOW A PEDIATRICIAN BECOMES A FATHER