I didn't take very many pictures these days. It was really hard for me to see him on the ventilator and not moving. I wanted pictures as a rememberance, but I think they're difficult to look at.
He had the chest tube which was draining directly into a "water seal" which basically means it was dangling into an enclosed container of water. As it drained, bubbles would form in the water, essentially showing how much hair was coming out of the hole in his lung. Less bubbles were what we prayed for every day.
Each day we walked in, we never knew what to expect. He might have had a bad night with lots of monitors and alarms, or have been irritable with his nurses. Many times the alarms were due to one of his monitors falling off, but other times his levels were just off, or when he would get upset, his pulse ox would go waaay down.
Each day they were turning down his vent little by little, and would also try to limit his sedation meds at times to see how he tolerated it. It was always nice to see him a little more awake and responsive to us, though we were always concerned about him being uncomfortable. Sometimes he would suck on his binky, or his eyes would be open. Often times he would get upset and move around too much or try to pull out his vent. Obviously this was not a good thing, so they would have to up his sedation meds a little more.
He began to get breathing treatments during this time to help open up his lungs. The respiratory therapist would come and give him his medicine directly into his vent. It would last up to 10 minutes and was fairly uneventful. At any point during the day or night, the nurse would have to clear out his lungs manually, and after a breathing treatment, there was always lots of gunk to get out. They had a special tube that went down his throat (through his vent) and into his chest. They would then push a smaller tube through that one and it would suction all the junk out. Some days there would be a lot of green stuff, other days not a whole lot. I was always so glad he was sedated for this, because you could still see it was uncomfortable for him, so I can't imagine what it woud've been like if he had been awake.
Kind of a funny thing about this time in the NICU is how oily and stinky he was. He had 4 heart monitors stuck to his chest, and a pulse ox on his foot. It was around Day 4 that his nurses started mentioning how nothing stuck to him for very long. On typical babies, the monitors stay stuck until the baby is given a bath, or pulled off intentionally. For Jasper, it wasn't unusual for the nurses to have to change them twice or even three times per shift! His hair was pretty greasy-looking, and about every other day (as long as he was having a good day) they would give him a sponge bath and wash his hair. The smelling-good only lasted a few hours, and soon he would be stinking up the joint again. Despite this odd thing about our boy, all the nurses absolutely loved him. All we ever heard from the nurse on duty was how "big" he was compared to the standard NICU baby. To us, he looked so small, but for them, he was HUGE (or so they said). And especially during these days where he was sedated and intubated, he was comparitively "low maintenance" than the other baby his nurses typically cared for who was a micro preemie (just like Harper's nurses' other baby - what a reminder to be so thankful for what we had!), so he got lots of attention just being loved on by everyone.
Also during this time, I got to be there when they moved his bed because the port for his monitors quit working. It was fascinating to see how many people and the undertaking it was just to move the location of his bed to an empty slot. They ended up moving him right next door to the slot Harper was in, which was so surreal. He was moved to an end spot (it was the same spot the micropreemie with Harper was in), which was great for more privacy and it was much less noisy and not as bright so he could sleep better and not get so agitated. (This became very important as he got better and better when his personality started to come out and he would make up for all that time of not being able to cry.) Since he was ventilated, someone had to manually pump air into him with a hand pump while about 3 other carried cords, monitors and pushed the bed. I just tried to stay out of the way and prayed that person with the pump wouldn't forget or miss their count!
I was discharged on Day 4. My doctor wanted me to stay the full 5 days he recommends for a c-section recovery, but once Jasper was intubated, I knew there wouldn't be any change in his condition for a while so I wanted to be in my own bed and get started on our new normal at home with Harper. Jon was on FMLA because I couldn't drive for at least 2 weeks, so my doctor was fine with me leaving and having him home was amazing. I was completely heartbroken to leave Jasper at the hospital.
We were able to work out a pretty good routine with visiting him though. Typically we would sleep in as long as we could at home and have some morning time with Harper, just the 3 of us. It also helped us to avoid the traffic. I was moving pretty slowly for those first several days at home, so this was really nice. Jasper was on a eating schedule of 3, 6, 9, 12, so we would usually drop Harper off at Papa and Nana's house and be at the hospital in time for his noon feeding. In the beginning, this was the only times we were able to touch him as we would take his temp and change his diaper. So while his feedings were fairly uneventful as the milk went directly into his stomach via a tube, we always looked so forward to these times. We might visit for a while, get caught up on how his night went, then sometimes leave to have a bite to eat together or run some errands. We would make it back in time for his 3pm feeding, and leave a while later to pick Harper up and head back home to get her dinner and again spend some more time with her. We would then do bathtime and our regular bedtime routine and have her in bed by 7pm or so. We were so blessed to have had a great circle of friends to rely on during this time who would come to our house and hang out while Harper slept so we could go visit Jasper in the NICU. This was such a blessing for us!! We could be there for his 9pm feeding and really spend some quiet time with him. Often times we would just sit and stare or pray or cry or smile. I would always bring my pump with me and pump milk at his bedside. It was during this time how I realized how blessed I was with my supply as I watched the mommy of the micropreemie also pump at her bedside and only get 1 or 2 ounces while I was getting 10+. She was trying so hard, and it was so effortless for me. This is something that would stick with me later and contributed to me becoming a milk donor when Jasper was 6 months old.
One final note: I looked back at my facebook and copied some of the posts I made during this time. Prior to March 15, I hadn't really posted much. It's nice to look back and see the positive strides he made.
March 15 - Sorry for the lack of updates. There really hasn't been much to report.. until now! Progress has been made with his lungs, and his chest tube is now in a water seal to make sure there's no air escaping. If he stays like this for 24 hours, the chest tube gets removed! His vent has been slowly turned down every day and he's up to a full ounce at each feeding. He's getting breathing treatments for the next two days to help with the mudous consolidation in his lungs ,which could be a result of his vent. All in all, pretty good news to report!!
March 16 11:20pm- This morning's update: Jasper's chest tube has been removed!!! And if his testing goes well at 2pm, he could have his vent removed this afternoon too! amazing progress, and we are so excited!
March 16 12:20pm- We're seeing Jasper on NO sedation meds for the first time since Thursday. Praise the Lord. Looks like they'll remove his vent tomorrow as to give him some time to adjust, but everything looks great. Soon - we'll be able to hold him! can't wait! He's a week old today and this Mama's arms are aching to hold him for the first time.
March 16 10:13pm - Day 8 in the NICU, we captured a sweet smile from our sweet boy. We expect this to be the last time we see him on the vent!
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