Well today has been a difficult day... Since he came at 34 weeks, Jackson was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit (
NICU) to be monitored. He appeared to be doing good, but the respiratory specialist noticed his oxygen levels were a little low. So they hooked him up to some oxygen. Here's a pic (the other tubes and wires are for pulse and an IV):
His oxygen levels were low because of some fluid in his lungs which makes it hard to breath. With normal births a lot of the fluid is squeezed out in the birth canal, but not the case with C-Sections. Another thing was that Jackson didn't get any steroids to help build his lungs. I guess this is something that normal births and C-sections get, but after noticing a
hemorrhage our doctors didn't want to wait for anything prior to
delivery. They were hoping that the initial oxygen tubes would help him out enough.
After a little while they told us that his oxygen levels hadn't improved so they would have to give him a nasal C-pap (continuous positive
airway pressure). This was a different, larger tube that would provide oxygen a little more
efficiently that can be better measured/monitored. It looks a lot worse than the initial oxygen tube, but is suppose to help better. The smaller tube in his mouth goes to his tummy so that it doesn't fill up with air.
After a little while longer the nurse practitioner came back in and said that things weren't improving like they hoped and that they were going to give him a dose of surfactant (a substance produced by the lungs that allows air sacs to stay open). This is given by placing a tube down the lungs. She explained that surfactant usually helps a lot and results can be seen within the hour, but if there weren't any results Jackson would have to be tranferred to the Seton hospital in downtown Austin, where they have more equiptment that could help more. This was a little hard to take since we were so optomistic after he came. They said we'd know in about 3 hours...
So after what seemed to be like an eternity they came back and said thea the serfactant did take and his oxygen levels had improved. They took the tube out of his lungs which meant that they were not planning on giving him another dose or sending him to downtown Austin. Finally, good news!! The concern now turned to his respiratory rate which was high (in the 100's, normal is 20-60). With his oxygen levels improving, we hoped that would have a positive effect on the respiratory rate. The little guy breaths like he just finished running the 1oo yrd dash, very small, fast breaths.
Around 7pm, they told us that they'd be changing his C-pap tubes because there werent seeing any improvement and thought there might be a leak. They also said they'd be putting something around his head to keep his mouth shut so that he'd breath only through the c-pap and not his mouth. Yes, another thing to put on the little guy.
At 10pm, they came in with some blood results and x-rays and said that there was a small improvement in his oxygen levels and that he was close to breathing room air! The plan is to see how he does through the night and see his improvement/status after his 7am xrays.
Happy BOY! Well, as you can see today was another great day. He is doing so much better than a week ago! We will let you know when the big homecoming will be. We can hardly wait. He is such a sweet baby...we love the little guy!
