It's been a bit tough the last couple days, and especially today. Luca has been in the nursery hooked up to an IV and a variety of monitors (oxygen, heart rate, skin temperature, etc.). No one can go into the nursery except me and Daniel (though a very nice nurse snuck my dad in so he could meet the baby). Usually, the baby stays in your room with you and you get all that time to cuddle and bond. It's quite a bit more difficult to cuddle with wires everywhere. We take every opportunity we can get though! Poor little guy is the only baby in there.
It had seemed on Tuesday night that Luca's blood sugars had been stabilized and they would be able to begin weening him off the IV Wednesday morning. In order to do that though, he has to start eating. Even though he breastfed quite well right after birth, since then he seemed to have forgotten how to suck.
We made some valiant attempts at breast feeding again, but whenever I hold him, boob or not, he immediately falls right asleep. Very sweet, and it is still wonderful for the baby and me, but it doesn't meet our goal. So, they tried giving him formula with a special kind of bottle. With that, they began lowering the amount of sugar in the IV from 12 units to 10. For four readings (4 hours apart), his blood sugar stayed at 43-48. Not ideal (above 50), but pretty good. But then it dropped to 30 and stayed at 30. And he started spitting up the formula or gagging on it.
They upped the sugar again back up to 12. The problem is that sugar water, while it works to quickly bring the blood sugar up, is a quick fix. Like giving him kool-aid. And, at two days old, he needs to start eating for real. Plus, protein will help stabilize his blood sugar.
The whole thing is overwhelming and upsetting. Luca's little heels have been poked so many times that they are all bruised, along with this hand where they tried to get the IV in and popped a vein, and his other hand with the IV and the giant foam wrapper to keep it in place (looks like Hellboy's Right Hand of Doom). On top of that, I still have lots of hormones making me a little wacky. I was assured that day 3 is when most new moms start to freak out and get hysterical - even when their babies are just fine.
Now they are feeding him through a tube down his throat. It's no fun to watch, but he's keeping the food down and that is MAJOR! I've also been able to finger feed him some colostrum (the early breast milk that contains tons and tons of antibodies). The hope now is that this "real" food will stabilize his blood sugar enough to ween him off the IV.
Good news is that his sucking reflex has started to kick in. Daniel fed him a bunch of colostrom from his finger and he had a good, strong, consistent suck going. That is very reassuring because it means he may be able to feed from a bottle (or even the boob) soon and no longer need the tube.
Other really great things are that he really knows us and is very calmed by us. Daniel had an important talk with Luca's body this evening :) and we both spent some time surrounding him in white, healing light.
I've been told some pretty scary things about him maybe needing to be transfered to an Newborn Intensive Care Unit at another hospital, but I think he's going to pull through really soon. Maybe tonight.
Please, please send your thoughts and love to our little guy. He's had a bit of a fight so far and he isn't out of the woods yet.
I'm getting released tomorrow (I think), but obviously Luca isn't. The hospital is letting me stay as a "boarder". Thank God! Because there is no way that Daniel or I would leave him. So, basically, we're here probably through the weekend and maybe even Monday or Tuesday.
2 comments:
Perhaps remembering my story will help you: Savannah's heart rate dropped during every contraction too, which made me have a prolonged, agonizing, and ultimately rather damaging labor. When she did finally come out, she wasn't breathing. She didn't latch on at first either. She was purple on her head where the suction had been, but everywhere else was a deep, scary yellow. Her liver wasn't working and her body wasn't processing toxins. She needed to spend the next week under UV lights to jumpstart her liver. She wasn't pooping (as you know, this is a major milestone of the first few days).
It was all very stressful, and I was often afraid. But we pulled through it. Sending many loving thoughts your way.
loving you LOVING YOU LOVING YOU!!!!!!! Mr. Man is going to rock it out!
Post a Comment