When my husband and I found out we were pregnant with our son, we were ecstatic. We immediately told all friends and family. We worked extra hard to make sure he would have EVERYTHING he needed. We made his nursery with so much love. Our son, Amir, was born in May 2023 via forceps delivery. His head was stuck and due to drops in his heart rate they HAD to get him out. We have a video of the birth where you can see the aggressive use of the forceps and the doctor’s hands shaking when pulling. When they finally got Amir out and laid him on my stomach, he was blue and barely crying at all. They took him to a warmer in the room and I didn’t know at the time, but his oxygen level was only 68% so they were also giving him oxygen. When I finally got to hold my baby for the first time, they quickly took him back to give him more oxygen. Amir wasn’t at 98% oxygen until 10 minutes of life and he couldn’t maintain his oxygen levels without assistance until 17 minutes of life. The next day, we were able to take our sweet boy home. He had a subconjunctival hemorrhage (popped blood vessel) in his eye due to the pressure from the forceps. Being a brand new mom, it was scary to see, but at Amir’s first checkup the next day the doctor assured me it was due to the pressure from delivery and was normal. The next six weeks were amazing! We were adjusting to being new parents and loving every minute of it. On June 19th I noticed Amir was sweating, but cold so we took him to the children’s hospital. Testing showed his oxygen level was extremely low and he had pneumonia. We spent the night in the hospital and were told we needed to take Amir to see a pulmonologist the next day. The pulmonologist put Amir on preventative treatments for asthma and at the appointment he also noted that Amir’s head was misshapen and stuck out more on the right side. He told us to have Amir lay on his right side more so that maybe he wouldn’t end up needing a helmet. In August, Amir got a cold. At first I wasn’t too worried because he was still his normal happy self. I gave him his inhaler as usual and used his nebulizer again, but I started to notice Amir’s misshapen head more. We had an appointment coming up later that week so I figured I would mention it then. The next day Amir’s head shape looked even more pronounced. I was starting to think he really would need a helmet, but as the day went on we realized his head was actually swelling and it was getting worse. Concerned, I took him to a children’s urgent care. At first they told me it was okay, that sometimes babies get fluid around their skull that may need to be drained, but after they did an X-Ray the tone completely switched. They told me Amir had a skull fracture. I said there’s no way, he never fell off anything or ever hit his head hard enough to get a skull fracture. I was told they would be transporting Amir to the children’s hospital by ambulance and I wasn’t allowed to ride with him. That’s when panic started to hit. How was this possible?! I tried to stay calm for my baby, I didn’t want him to feel those anxious emotions, but as soon as they took him away I had a panic attack. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t breathe, all I could do was cry. Of course I was in no state to drive, so I called a family member who picked me up and rushed me to the children’s hospital. When I got there the first thing I was told is ‘you’re being investigated for child abuse.’ We never ever would hurt our son so I wasn’t even worried about that. They took Amir in for full body X-rays and a CT scan. Amir had no other fractures throughout his entire body, only the one skull fracture. I was pulled out of the room and questioned by a child abuse pediatrician (CAP). She asked about the subconjunctival hemorrhage in Amir’s eye. I told her they that he originally had one due to forceps used at birth, one when he had pneumonia, and one when he started to get sick again a few days before. I explained that when I had asked his pediatrician at his 2 month appointment about it she told me not to worry, that they can happen from any form of straining especially when babies are sick. But in her report the CAP noted that ‘Amir’s repeated subconjunctival hemorrhages are diagnostic of physical abuse.’ The CAP also told us the skull fracture couldn’t have come from birth or other accidental means and that one of us had done this. We knew no one hurt our baby. I didn’t know what to do besides hold my baby and cry. Later that night we were told by a social worker and police officer that we had to leave the hospital. They said Amir was being placed under emergency protective custody and CPS would get ahold of us the next day. I didn’t know what to do. I knew arguing would be the last thing that would help us. I begged them to let the doctors know Amir needed his inhaler and nebulizer since he was still congested. As we were walking out of the doors, I almost collapsed. We got home around 1 AM absolutely distraught. All I wanted to do was go lay in my sons room and cry, but the police had other plans. When we arrived at our apartments the detective from the hospital and another police officer were sitting outside our apartment. They told us we needed to let them in to take photos or we could wait for them to get a warrant. I told them my brother had our house key since he was watching our dog, so I didn’t have it on me. The detective told me “that’s ok, we already have a key to your apartment”. As you can assume, we were in shock. We just wanted them to leave, so we allowed them inside our apartment to “take pictures”. When they were finally leaving, I fell to the ground next to Amir’s crib and sobbed. The next day I went through ALL of Amir’s test results from the hospital and noticed his parathyroid hormone level (PTH) was EXTREMELY high (his was 155 and normal is 12-80) and his vitamin D level was very low (his was 15 and normal is 20-96). I called the hospital and when I finally got ahold of a doctor, she told me there was no way those abnormal levels could lead to a fracture. I begged them to run more tests, but got the same answer: no. CPS told us if we signed a Voluntary Placement Agreement (VPA) Amir would be able to be released from the hospital to my mom’s custody and if not, he would go to foster care. So of course we signed it. Amir was given Tylenol and was released to my mom’s care after one night at the hospital. Both my mom and I asked questions at Amir’s discharge, but their response was ‘we’re not running any more tests, our CAP is our EXPERT.’ About a week and a half later I was able to get a second opinion from a pediatrician. She noted Amir’s high PTH and low vitamin D levels, explaining that: ‘low Vitamin D reduces intestinal calcium absorption. The body reacts to both by increasing the secretion of parathyroid hormone (PTH) in the blood, causing secondary hyperparathyroidism. It is well recognized in scientific literature that secondary hyperparathyroidism can impact bone mineralization and lead to reduced bone density. It is possible reduced bone mineralization at birth increased the likelihood of sustaining a parietal skull fracture in association with forceps use.’ The second opinion report also noted that the CAP didn’t review or consider Amir’s birth records at all with the CAP stating ‘no birth history on file’. In addition, the second opinion report noted the CAP also did not document a differential diagnosis for any of the conditions ‘which falls below the minimal acceptable standard of care for a pediatrician.’ Although we had this second opinion, CPS didn’t care. In fact, once they heard we got our second opinion, they rushed to file for dependency of Amir. Since then, we have been fighting in court to have our baby come home. He’s now 14 months old and still in my mom’s custody. My son cries every time we have to say goodbye. It has been almost a year since our baby boy was taken from us. Our family was horribly torn apart and we are now traumatized. We want our baby home.