I realize that it has been a while since this post has been visited, but I thought I would offer my experience...
I too am a Jehovah's Witness and my first daughter was born at 27 wks gestation and weight 1lb 9oz. I didn't go into preterm labor but, by chance, had a routine ultrasound that found that the fluid in my amniotic sac was low and during following tests they found that Kaylee's heart rate dropped substantially and was irratic and so they performed an emergency CS.
My husband and I not only had to deal with her prematurity and adjusting to the situation but had to confront our beliefs of not accepting blood under any circumstances. The first hospital she was born at said they would transfuse at about 40 hematocrit level. She was tranferred to Sunset Kaiser in LA and they said they would let it drop to 30 before tranfusion was forced. We maintained hourly contact with her doctors and nurses and hand in hand with our liason committee kept track of her status. We did what we could to find alternative procedures and was even able to organize meetings between her doctors and other MD's who had dealt with the situation before.
We assured the doctors that alternative treatments were acceptable to us and they proceeded with EPO, iron, and other blood boosters. We were able to get them to agree to minimize blood draws and focus on her status rather than just the numbers.
She was then transferred to a bloodless unit in Encino/Tarzana Regional Medical Center where they assured us they would do what they could but if all else failed the only alternative was transfusion. We held firm to our stand, but realized the doctor's did not have a choice, for their own ethical reasons, and had her best interests at heart.
She underwent a surgery to fix the PDA that medicine could not. It was during this surgery that we feared the worst. They came out and we breathed a sigh of relief when they said she made it through okay and again when they said they were able to do the surgury without blood loss. Her hematocrit dropped to 11 in that hospital... and then it started rising on it's own. The EPO and alternatives began working, along with her own body.
She suffered no brain bleeds, no brain damage, no CP, no ROP... the only signs she has of being a preemie is the scar from her surgery and asthma. All without blood. We understand that we were very fortunate and that other families, JW or not, have had to face other circumstances.
We encountered doctors that were kind... as well as those who chastized us for our beliefs. We endured threats of medical custody being taken away from us. But we will always be grateful to the doctors, nurses, administrative staff and others who were so willing to help us through the hard times.
We have kept in touch with the hospital Kaylee was born at. Since that time, they were able to write new procedures for dealing with preemies of JW parents and even held a staff conference to educate them on what to do in the event they were faced with the situation again. We can be happy that our stand will help other families in this same situation in the future.
I hope this helps...
-Lisa
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