All is Well

All is well that ends well.  That's in the Bible, right.  Nope, it sure isn't.  But if it were true, then today was a good day.  When we left the NICU, both babies were laying peacefully.  The day however, was extremely stressful.

After a late night last night, we slept in as long as possible with a plan to come home and shower after rounds before we went back in the evening.  When we walked in, Scarlett's nurse asked one of us to do hand containment because she had already pulled her feeding tube out twice and was still very agitated.  I reached in and she calmed down pretty quickly.  I  continued doing hand containment while the doctors rounded.

Goodbye vent!  Picture of Grayson's SiPAP in front of his old ventilator.

By the time the doctors came by, it was almost time to extubate Grayson and try him on the SiPAP.  We decided to stick around for it.  The medical team performed flawlessly.  The Respiratory Therapist and nurses set up the SiPAP, then pulled his tube and put the prongs inside his nose in a fluid motion.  Shortly afterwards though, Grayson started to fight.  He pulled out his tube and kept fidgeting, so I then needed to do hand containment.  For 3 hours.  Every time I thought he was asleep or tried to take my hand off, he grabbed at his prongs or feeding tube.  At his next care time, we decided to have Trish try and Kangaroo him so I could go home and get some work done.  He acted similarly over those 3 hours.

After his next care, the nurse swaddled him in hopes to keep his hands away from his face.  It didn't work, he worked his arm loose and pulled his tube out.  I think he did it 3 times over the evening.

On his next care, he had quite a load in his diaper.  I only bring this up because it may have been the source of his agitation. He was swaddled again and then finally seemed at peace.  Its very possible that he wore himself out from fighting for 9 hours.

Meanwhile, Scarlett was behaving typically most of the day.  However I Kangarooed her at 6 when I came back to the hospital.  While she was laying on me, we had 3 or 4 events where she stopped breathing, her heart rate dropped significantly, and she turned dusky blue.  No parent should ever have to see their child that color.  Quite frankly, I am sick of it.  It sucks when your baby is laying on your chest and a nurse has to come in and and firmly rub her back so she remembers to continue breathing.

The worst part is there is no way to know what causes this other than she was a preemie.  After the nurse and I spoke with the practitioner, we decided we will be extremely diligent to make sure Scarlett gets the proper pressures.  The C-PAP pressure fluctuates based on her position and how the mask/nose prongs are sitting.  She could be set up perfectly, but then open her mouth and see her pressure drop.  Or she could turn her neck and see her pressure increase.  We haven't been too focused on it before, because that's "what happens on C-PAP."

But when we left her, she was snuggled up, sleeping peacefully.

Scarlett when we left 

Burrito Grayson when we left