Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Set back

It is with a bummed heart that I write this post! Where to begin? Saturday... I guess, I came and spent time with Zach and he was doing really well. Sunday we got a big storm in and I spent the morning at the house enjoying my time watching Michael and the boys play on a sled hill that Michael had built up. When I came into the hospital Zach was doing great, taking his bottle feeds well and was awake and alert. I jokingly told the nurse that he was getting his job done so that he could come home and play with his brothers. Sunday night Zach had to use the tube for one feeding but it was not a big deal. Because of all the forward progress he was making and his ability to take his feedings by nipple the doctor decided to remove his feeding tube this morning. The doctor this morning explained to Michael that what is keeping Zach here is his need to gain more weight. With that being said Zach's bottle feedings were going to be supplemented with some fattening powder. When I arrived today at four for Zach's feeding I was informed that he did not pass an important test called the room air, which is to test his oxygen saturation if he were to pull his tube. He has to hold an O2 level of 80% for forty five minutes. When tested today he held his level for twenty minutes and then desated. For the last two feedings, the seven and ten, Zach had some bigger set backs. For both of those feedings he had heart rate drops and oxygen saturation drops. In his nineteen days of life he has only had two other heart rate drops, so to have two in such a short amount of time is alarming. After some discussion back and forth between the NP and the RN the final descision was to put him back on a feeding tube. The thought is that maybe we are stressing him out too much and he can't take the full feedings. There is also thought that maybe he is getting sick and is not able to handle the feedings because his body is fighting something else. So as of right now, there is no idea of when he will get to come home. The nurse is going to see how he seems at the one o'clock feeding and see if he is still acting tired and if he is then she will do a blood draw on him to check to see if he is indeed fighting something. So, although we were thinking that we were going to get our baby home soon, things have changed!