Saturday, June 5, 2010
Thanks to Bridgette, I was able to get to the hospital by 9:30 tonight. She was over and offered to help with anything and took it upon herself to give the kids their baths and get them ready for bed while I pumped. I think I felt more tired just watching her. It's amazing how much you can force yourself to keep going and then when someone gives you the chance to rest, you feel the exhaustion in its entirety. Many, many thanks, Auntie Bridge!
Timmy was doing well when I arrived. (Yes, I am still taking pictures and planning on adding them to all the posts that are lacking them. Just haven't had time to sort through and upload but want to keep everyone updated on Timmy's status.) Jenny was on again and told me that she had had to sedate him a bit this morning after his initial extubation. She said she wished that I had been there then because he really does calm down so well in his mommy's arms. I told her she can always call me and if I can possibly come in, I will. Hopefully she won't ever be desperate for me, but we're not that far away!
I was relieved to see that they hadn't had to increase his vent settings much. His pressure is back up to 19 - Dana did tell me they had done that because his PCO2 had come back high. His oxygen requirements was sitting at 80% and I will admit that that number definitely had me concerned. I wish we were still at room air (21% O2) but even 30-50% doesn't phase me much. 80% is a considerable amount of oxygen assistance.
His weight on the paper I saw was 1925g or 4 lbs. 5 oz. So much variance with the Lasix! But he is still doing really well with the feeding. He is currently at 16mls. Occasionally having a fair residual, but they'll let him have up to 5mls remaining and bump him up. I definitely think the position he's in and whether he has any serious episodes really affects his ability to digest.
I love having Timmy's primary nurses on because we have a great routine. They all know that I like to get my pumping out of the way and then hold Timmy as soon as possible so Jenny had him in my arms by 10:30. True to form, his sats improved right away and she was able to bring his O2 requirement down to 60%. After about an hour, Bessie came over and talked to me. It was great to get to sit and chat with her again. Things have been rough for their little Andrea (please keep them all in your prayers!) and I've kept my distance to give them their privacy so it's been a while since we really talked. Nice to have her pull up a chair and be able to share what's going on with our kids.
Alas, she had only just decided to grab a chair and sit a while when Timmy extubated. Jenny had also come over to check on him and just at that moment, he turned his head ever so slightly and the NeoFit popped right off, bringing the tube with it. She had him in her arms in no time and Francesca was right over. They were very calm in doing what needed to be done. MarieAnn (the nurse practitioner on for last Thursdays events) was there again. I really really like having her there! They also called in the resident and a respiratory therapist. Between them all, they had Timmy reintubated in about 30 minutes. Jenny gave Timmy a little sedation to help him through the procedure and he did exceptionally well. His sats stayed in the 90s almost the entire time, one slight brady and he actually cooperated fairly well, I thought, for having a tube stuck down his throat. Interesting to watch. They use a little speculum to retract the tongue and look down the baby's throat to locate the vocal cords in order to pass the tube through them. That's the roughest part because it initiates the gag reflex.
Once he was settled, the respiratory therapist asked Jenny if she wanted to give Timmy a little more sedation and she said no, she wanted to give him back to mom. Happy to comply! This all happened right around midnight, conveniently 3 hours after I had arrived so I was able to pump again before taking him back and hold him for another 3 hours.
Timmy's O2 sats only dropped into the 80s a very few times between 1am and 4am. Nothing sweeter than holding a sleeping baby. I didn't get a chance to hear his CO2 levels on his morning blood gas but Jenny and I decided to try it while I was holding him to see if that would make a difference as Dana had said he was agitated when she drew blood earlier and he was irritable for Jenny last night too. Fingers crossed we can go back down to 18 on that pressure.
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