Newborn Test Screening - Results.
Good evening,
I want to reach out on Reddit for some insight while we get through the weekend anxiously waiting for our son's Pediatrician to call us next week. Oliver is our first for my wife and I and he's our rainbow baby. I will share the details below while I seek any hopeful responses to help ease our anxiety and panic.
Born: Friday May 1st (8 days old today).
Birth weight - 8.7 lbs.
First appointment: Monday May 4th - A little jaundice (not too concerning per doc). Lost the birth weight down to 8.1lbs. Everything else checked out.
Second appointment: Thursday May 7th - Jaundice went away. Weight up to 8.4lbs. No concerns.
Today - We got a call from the Pediatrician office asking us to go get him a blood test today due to abnormal TSH and T4 levels (This broke us. We are beyond depressed right now). Everything else checked out fine on the newborn screening test which is a positive, of course. First Mother's day is tomorrow and it's making it hard for us to enjoy it due to our hopefulness and depression right now.
TSH - 26.7 (Should be below 11)
T4 - 23.7 (Range 10-15).
These were the results from the blood draw for the state last Saturday May 2nd.
We went to get follow up BW today and had it done stat per the Doctor. It being the weekend, the Doctor's office closed early afternoon after calling us and aren't back open until Monday May 11th. Here at the updated results from today:
TSH - 6.2 (Fell below the 11).
T4 - 21.4 (Still well above the range).
Also, his weight today was 8.8 so it jumped back to over birth weight which is good!
We saw the results on MyChart. Of course we searched the internet for insight. Congenital Hypothyroidism should be out of the question I assume? He's asymptomatic and his TSH dropped significantly since last Saturday May 2nd. His T4 only dropped slightly. From what we've read, it could be transient given the TSH is "normal" and the T4 is still elevated but did drop some. We know we will have to retest again after some time when the doctor calls us with the update that we just saw. Ultimately, we are hoping for some positive insight / stories that false positives are real and his T4 will normalize overtime. Given that the TSH dropped below the 11, we are hoping for the best!
My wife has no underlying conditions outside of anemia during pregnancy (had to take iron supplements and do 5 iron transfusions in the 3rd trimester.
I, myself was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism several years back but have no other medical conditions. I read it could potentially be hereditary.
Thank you to anyone who responds!
Update - Doctor just called at 745pm! Given that the TSH regulated, they aren't concerned anymore. The T4 still being elevated isn't as serious as the TSH. We have our 3rd appointment on Friday May 15th and are rechecking his T4 then to ensure it keeps going down. T4 will gradually go down over time! Definitely wasn't expecting a call from the Doctor on a Saturday evening but it was such a relief!