There are a number of things I knew could go wrong when I brought our baby home. With the amount of anxiety that I have daily, I had thought of every what if scenario. I was deathly afraid of peanuts, I cried about bringing my baby in the car, all the outlets were covered before he even was born. One thing I was not ready for, and had never heard of, was newborn supraventricular tachycardia.
Like all new parents, we were so excited to bring Max home after he was born. I was a little nervous as a brand new mom because it was nice having the nurses around. If something went wrong, they were there to help us, but I knew Brian and I were going to be great parents, and that we would be okay at home together.
Knowing Something Isn’t Right
We were home for a week and I was getting into the groove of being a new mama when I noticed that Max wasn’t eating as much as he normally had the few days before that, and he seemed a little fussy, but I figured it was just normal baby stuff. I have a history of being a bit of a hypochondriac, and I vowed to myself that I wasn’t going to panic at every little cry with our new baby boy.
But then the next day came and I noticed more that Max wasn’t eating, and he wasn’t really peeing or pooping much either. Again I told myself to not panic. They told us at the hospital that he would lose some weight after birth so I thought maybe this was normal. But at midnight that night when he cried, but he wouldn’t even open his mouth to eat, I knew something was wrong. My husband and I got up and we took him to the ER, asking each other on the way, “Do you think we’re overreacting?” and saying “better to be safe than sorry!”
Our First Trip to the Emergency Room
We went to the hospital where I delivered Max. We figured they had his records, and it was one of the closest hospitals. We told the ER staff that we were probably overreacting but something seemed off about our nine day old baby that we were just getting to know. They looked him over quickly and pretty much told us that babies can just be fussy. They sort of reassured us that we were overreacting. They put him on the heart monitor and when it read 250 beats per minute, they shrugged it off as the monitor being broken. They admitted us so that they could put him on a working monitor.
When we got into the room, they took Max’s temperature and told us it was low, but that it wasn’t really anything to worry about yet. Then they put him on the heart monitor again, and we realized something was wrong. A bunch of people came running in, and alarms on the monitor were sounding. His heart rate read between 260-270 bpm (it should be about 130-140 bpm). It seemed a little bit like the staff was just as panicked as we were.
I could tell that the doctors were trying not to show us that they were panicked. They let us know that they were going to call Yale Children’s Hospital to come and get us, because this was not something that they could really handle. They weren’t sure what was wrong, but they were going to try to get some medicine in him through an IV to get his heart rate back down. The doctor told me that it was either something called Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT), or some type of an infection. Either way their main concern was getting an IV in him so they could give him medicine to slow his heart rate.
I remember looking at my husband, Brian, when they were trying to put in the IV because I was totally panicked. I couldn’t stop crying and I was so scared. How could this happen to our nine day old baby? What could possibly be wrong? Did I give him something through my breast milk? Did our dogs kiss him when we weren’t paying attention and give him some sort of an infection? Did I do something wrong when I was pregnant? I was at a total loss. Brian just kept looking down at Max. We watched them struggle and fail over and over again to get an IV into our perfect little screaming baby. I was a complete mess, and I’m so thankful Brian was there to be our rock.
Diagnosis: Newborn Supraventricular Tachycardia
After what felt like 40 years but was actually about an hour, we were still waiting for Yale to come and get us. The doctors were finally able to slow his heart rate down by putting a pack of ice on his forehead, which I’ve since learned is what they call a vagel maneuver. Because of this, they had ruled that Max had newborn Supraventricular Tachycardia, or newborn SVT. Yale came to get us in their fancy children’s ambulance right after that.
When we got to Yale, they brought us up into a room and a whole team of staff was waiting for us. They told us because of Covid, only one of us could stay with him which sent me into a full blown panic attack. I heard one of the doctors mention that Max was in heart failure because he had been in SVT for so long, which made me feel like a terrible parent. Why didn’t I bring him into the hospital when I knew something was up the day before?
I heard one of the doctors say that Max was in Heart Failure because he had been in SVT for so long
They started right away giving him fluids, put him on a bunch of monitors, and did a few EKGs and an echocardiogram. His nurse said we would be there for a few days and helped me set up a bed. Brian stayed with me as long as they would let him and things calmed down in the hospital. We were sent home a few days later with medicine to give him every eight hours, a heart monitor (that we found out the hard way didn’t work). The doctors also promised that this would most likely only happen one time and he would grow out of it after a year.
What is Newborn Supraventricular Tachycardia?
Newborn Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT) is an irregular heartbeat in newborns. It’s fairly common, affecting 1 in every 2500 children. It is an arrhythmia, or an irregular heartbeat caused by the heart’s electrical system. A normal heartbeat is caused by an electrical impulse traveling through the heart. The electrical signal travels through the the heart tissue to the bottom part of the heart, called the ventricles. The impulse causes the top and bottom parts of the heart to then beat regularly and at the same time. In newborn Supraventricular Tachycardia, there is an extra electrical connection between the top and bottom parts of the heart, which causes extra heartbeats that speed up the heart. Generally medical intervention is needed to bring the heart rate back down to normal speed.
The Worst of the Hospital Trips
Three days after we left the hospital, I picked Max up and with my hand on his chest I felt his heart racing again. The monitor company was supposed to call us if something was wrong, but I didn’t have any missed calls. I ran to our room where we had the Owlet Smart Sock Monitor
The ambulance came to get us and despite our asking to go back to Yale where his doctors were, they brought us to the closest hospital. Again we were met with a team of people, again the team struggled to get an IV in my tiny baby. Finally they were able to get an IV in his foot, but unfortunately the medicine to slow his heart rate needs to reach his heart within a certain amount of time. Despite him being small, the medicine did not reach his heart quickly enough to slow it down.
They tried twice with the medicine before telling us that they were going to shock him to get his heart to come back down. Thank God for my husband. I don’t really have words for what it’s like to hear that they are going to shock your less than one month old baby. I ended up leaving the room, which now I regret but I was such a mess I didn’t think I was able to handle watching. Brian said it was better that I left because it was very hard to watch. They shocked him twice and his heart rate stayed high.
Finally they were able to get an IV in his hand, and they used the medicine called Adenosine to get his heart rate to come down. Yale came and got us and we were back with our doctors. We stayed for another few days, adding in another medicine. They sent us home with the same promise that this would likely not happen again, it was just a fluke.
A Repeat Offender
One day later, we were back at the ER. This time we went right to Yale (we drove ourselves, not willing to risk another horrible ER visit, and with the permission of our cardiologist). They were able to get his IV in and heart rate down within about a half hour. After a few more days at the hospital, we upped his meds, he had another episode while we were at this hospital this time, and finally we went home.
We went to the ER one more time after that, but the medicine helped and he came out of the episode just as they were about to give him the Adenosine again. They sent us home that night and told us they trusted that we knew what we were doing and to come back if anything else happened.
Finally Stable
So far we have been good. He has had three more episodes since we’ve been home, but we’ve been able to get him out of it with Vagel Maneuvers. He will be on medicine until he’s one, and then we will attempt to wean him off, and if that doesn’t work he’ll have a procedure when he’s about four to correct it. All in all this is not life threatening unless it is left untreated or unnoticed, and I’m grateful that we knew something was wrong and our baby is okay.
I’m writing this because partly to remember what happened when I look back, but also because I had no idea what newborn Supraventricular Tachycardia was when I had Max. The hospital where I had Max didn’t tell me anything really about signs and symptoms that something might be wrong. Max not eating was big red flag and I wish I had known better and brought him the day that I noticed.
The other reason I write this is because it’s a great example that mamas should trust their guts and be their own advocates. You know your baby better than anyone else, even just after nine days. Us going to the hospital for my gut feeling ended up saving his life. Somehow I knew to check his heart rate the second time it happened even though the monitor company never called us. We now have a heart monitor on Max all the time, and we probably are a little more cautious than other parents when it comes to his health, but if it weren’t for us trusting what we felt, things could have gone a lot worse. If you ever question whether or not something is wrong, you can always call your doctor. For me, it’s now definitely better to be safe than sorry.
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