Maura Update
Well folks...I shouldn't count my chickens before they hatch. We were fast tracked to getting out of here today which I was quite excited by and it is no longer happening.
This morning, the audiologist came in to test her failed ear and she passed with no problem! Go Maura! The Pediatrician came to see her about her hip clicking yesterday, which was a signal for possible hip displaysia, no click! Super Maura! I even asked about her color and she was looking GREAT! She had one more test to pass...the car seat stress test.
They told me they would take her for the test about an hour after she nursed. Considering she's been latching well, I thought NO problem! We nursed. She fussed for a few. Then she did something really odd that we haven't seen yet in the past 36 hours she's been rooming with us. She got all purple and tense, like when you see a newborn get all upset. I didn't think much of it, I just thought to myself that we hadn't seen THIS before...and I didn't even say anything about it because I didn't think it
was reason for concern.
Anyway, she went for her carseat test, and right towards the end, she failed. Not knowing what exactly it meant, I knew she couldn't even try again for another 24 hours. They also said her bilirubin levels were up at around 11 through the transcutaneous test. She was borderline for letting her go, but they were OK, again, like Patrick, with having her
retest in the AM...
So the neonatalogist came to see us. She explained what the fail on the carseat meant. Basically, she did that purply thing right towards the end of her test. It means that she basically stopped breathing momentarily and self recovered. They wanted to monitor her tonight in the NICU and see if there was a reason why she was doing it. I asked what it looked like and that's where I made the connection to her purply breath hold thing. I told the doctor about it. Red flag goes up. Now we question
WHY she's doing this.
She's a preemie. This is what preemies do! They've got their quirks, like she's been a little jittery so we are seeing that as well. That's no big deal. This apnea thing can be a sign of infection, but we don't know. We asked to go and see Maura at the NICU, and considering I've not been out of the room much, I wanted to know how to get there.
Somehow on the way there, she had another incident of this apnea business which sent up the flag for them, because it means she's done it 3 times in one day. They are currently doing blood work to rule out infection, but in the meantime, they are starting her on fluids and on an antibiotic. This means she'll have an IV inserted. We'll see what it means for me
nursing. It may mean I need to pump. Ahh, so what! I pumped for a good long time with Patrick, I can do this here and now.
She would come home with us as of now the earliest being on Saturday if there is no infection, which means I will go home yet again (as with Patrick, been there, done that!) with no baby on Friday. Joe went home to be with Patrick today and we don't have official plans for Patrick for tomorrow night just quite yet. She COULD be on these antibiotics for 7-10 days if there *is* an infection and come home then.
I held it together pretty well in the NICU for the two minutes I got to see her. When we got out, as Joe was about to go home, he cried. (Yes I'm selling him out!) and it's OK, because we gave each other a hug and I walked back to my room at mother/baby and got to the nurses desk and then >I< cried.
When I went to see her again, they told me she had been showing some seizure-like behavior on 2 occasions. They ordered a CT Scan and a Spinal Tap to see if they could figure out what was going on and why she was going downhill. I stayed with her until she went for the CT Scan and the seizure activity happened again, at which point they also decided to start her on Phenobarbital. I got a few hours of sleep and will be headed back to the NICU from my "suite" in a few minutes. Then I'll get some more sleep for the night...
I'm tired, hormonal, and beat down. It's been a very long week and I've vheld it together miraculously well. *We've* held it together. From a middle of the night bleed to 60 hours of holding pattern to major surgery to this, it can't really get much worse, right? It's GOT to get better somehow! And it will...I'm absolutely sure of this.
I reminded Joe that in a year this will all seem like a blur. We'll all talk about how "Remember when Maura had to stay at the hospital!" and you know what? She'll be walking around like nothing ever happened! I mean, look at Patrick! He did it too (although his extra stay wasn't that long, and we didn't have another little person at home)!
Anyway, Thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. Please continue to do so. I'll update you guys when I know anything. This WILL improve! (I say that so easy, don't I? ;)
This morning, the audiologist came in to test her failed ear and she passed with no problem! Go Maura! The Pediatrician came to see her about her hip clicking yesterday, which was a signal for possible hip displaysia, no click! Super Maura! I even asked about her color and she was looking GREAT! She had one more test to pass...the car seat stress test.
They told me they would take her for the test about an hour after she nursed. Considering she's been latching well, I thought NO problem! We nursed. She fussed for a few. Then she did something really odd that we haven't seen yet in the past 36 hours she's been rooming with us. She got all purple and tense, like when you see a newborn get all upset. I didn't think much of it, I just thought to myself that we hadn't seen THIS before...and I didn't even say anything about it because I didn't think it
was reason for concern.
Anyway, she went for her carseat test, and right towards the end, she failed. Not knowing what exactly it meant, I knew she couldn't even try again for another 24 hours. They also said her bilirubin levels were up at around 11 through the transcutaneous test. She was borderline for letting her go, but they were OK, again, like Patrick, with having her
retest in the AM...
So the neonatalogist came to see us. She explained what the fail on the carseat meant. Basically, she did that purply thing right towards the end of her test. It means that she basically stopped breathing momentarily and self recovered. They wanted to monitor her tonight in the NICU and see if there was a reason why she was doing it. I asked what it looked like and that's where I made the connection to her purply breath hold thing. I told the doctor about it. Red flag goes up. Now we question
WHY she's doing this.
She's a preemie. This is what preemies do! They've got their quirks, like she's been a little jittery so we are seeing that as well. That's no big deal. This apnea thing can be a sign of infection, but we don't know. We asked to go and see Maura at the NICU, and considering I've not been out of the room much, I wanted to know how to get there.
Somehow on the way there, she had another incident of this apnea business which sent up the flag for them, because it means she's done it 3 times in one day. They are currently doing blood work to rule out infection, but in the meantime, they are starting her on fluids and on an antibiotic. This means she'll have an IV inserted. We'll see what it means for me
nursing. It may mean I need to pump. Ahh, so what! I pumped for a good long time with Patrick, I can do this here and now.
She would come home with us as of now the earliest being on Saturday if there is no infection, which means I will go home yet again (as with Patrick, been there, done that!) with no baby on Friday. Joe went home to be with Patrick today and we don't have official plans for Patrick for tomorrow night just quite yet. She COULD be on these antibiotics for 7-10 days if there *is* an infection and come home then.
I held it together pretty well in the NICU for the two minutes I got to see her. When we got out, as Joe was about to go home, he cried. (Yes I'm selling him out!) and it's OK, because we gave each other a hug and I walked back to my room at mother/baby and got to the nurses desk and then >I< cried.
When I went to see her again, they told me she had been showing some seizure-like behavior on 2 occasions. They ordered a CT Scan and a Spinal Tap to see if they could figure out what was going on and why she was going downhill. I stayed with her until she went for the CT Scan and the seizure activity happened again, at which point they also decided to start her on Phenobarbital. I got a few hours of sleep and will be headed back to the NICU from my "suite" in a few minutes. Then I'll get some more sleep for the night...
I'm tired, hormonal, and beat down. It's been a very long week and I've vheld it together miraculously well. *We've* held it together. From a middle of the night bleed to 60 hours of holding pattern to major surgery to this, it can't really get much worse, right? It's GOT to get better somehow! And it will...I'm absolutely sure of this.
I reminded Joe that in a year this will all seem like a blur. We'll all talk about how "Remember when Maura had to stay at the hospital!" and you know what? She'll be walking around like nothing ever happened! I mean, look at Patrick! He did it too (although his extra stay wasn't that long, and we didn't have another little person at home)!
Anyway, Thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. Please continue to do so. I'll update you guys when I know anything. This WILL improve! (I say that so easy, don't I? ;)
Labels: Maura Fern, NICU
posted by Caroline at
1:46 AM
1 Comments:
Oh wow...so, first of all, congratulations on the beautiful baby girl. She is adorable and I love her name. :) I'm sorry that all of this craziness has happened, but you both are in my thoughts and prayers! Stay strong, Mama!
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