I need reassurance please (computer messed up before)

cjb62803

Hi Ladies,

I need your expertise again.  Baby J is now 12 weeks and 3 days, (3 days adjusted) and is still in the NICU.  He is still having brady episodes, especially during his feeds.  He is on all 8 bottles and does not have them every feed. 

Well, yesterday his got his immunizations (3 at 2 am and 2 at 2 pm yesterday).  When I was up there yesterday evening he seemed like everything was ok.  When it came time for his feeding, everything changed.  He wasn't himself and seemed like he wanted to brady a lot while drinking the bottle.  His inspiratory stridor was very loud (he has some vocal cord weakness and paralysis due to the PDA ligation).  I told the nurse he seemed like he was struggling a lot and he didn't seem right.  He did manage to brady down to 84.  I saw it coming and sat him up and stimulated him by patting his back.  The alarm was sounding so the nurse proceeded to come over and pause it, telling me it wasn't accurate.  The starts trying to show me the wave form saying it was not accurate because it looked like this and not like this.  I told her he had the look of a brady and was acting like it as well.  She told me he may have been trying to have one, but he wasn't really having one.  I KNOW my son better than that and yes, he had a brady.  We have been going through this long enough.  Anyway, the rest of the feeding was challenging and she had to finish the feeding due to shift change.  To my knowledge, he didn't have anymore episodes.

I called to check on him this morning and our primary was there last night and said she was going to call me in the middle of the night, but she didn't want to scare me.  Baby J had a very rough night.  She said with his 1st bottle, he had 9 bradies, 5 with the next one and several in between.  She knew this wasn't normal for him so she called the NP and the doctor.  They reinserted his NG tube and proceeded to feed him through that to give him a rest.  He is running a little temp, but other than that, they say he is doing fine.  They do say this is not uncommon for the A's and B's after immunizations, but my question is, is this many normal? He has never had this many before and I am beside myself because I struggled with getting the immunizations in the first place.  We postponed them and they were really pushy as far as getting them.  I figured we would get them before going home, but I didn't want them when he was 2 months, as he was only 3 lbs.  So now here, almost a month later, he is not liking them anyway.  Please tell me this is normal and he'll be ok or share your experiences.  Thanks for reading this long post.

Sweets2005

I don't have an answer but I didn't want to read without posting. I hope everything will be okay and that today he will be back to normal!

TriciaJoy

I delayed Robbie's vaccinations a bit as well. (He was also 3lb and I didn't feel like he was big enough.) I can't say that I remember him having any worse spells afterward. They did split them over a couple of days, though. (Standard practice in our NICU.) Did they do them all at once?

I will say that after Robbie's 4month shots, he was a miserable MESS. He wasn't on the monitor full time, then, so I don't know if he bradied at all, but he was sick as hell, temp of about 101 even with tylenol, stomach going crazy.. it was awful.

 I'd say that it's probably pretty normal, but definitely ask them to keep an extra good eye on him. If it's just from the vaccines, he should be back to normal in a day or two.

kamcfarlane

i'm not sure whether DS had a hard time. now that i think about it, i think he may have been placed on his trend event monitor at about the same time he had the vacs and there was an increase at that point, but i'm not sure....

i just wanted to say that i hope everything works out and i'll be thining of you!

cjb62803

Thank you for your responses.  You guys are such a great resource, I learn so much from you all. And the support is wonderful.

I have called to check on him twice, once before his 9:00 bottle and once after the bottle.  After the bottle, his primary said I was right, he is not the same.  He is not eating the way he was a few days ago.  He did brady once, but tried several other times that she was able to prevent from happening. I had all I could do not to burst into tears.  She said she has not seen this as a result of the immunizations, but that babies often have setbacks without the immunizations, so maybe this is what this is.  I don't know, but I don't like what I am hearing.  I am waiting for the neo to call me and discuss what is happening.  They say he seems to be fine otherwise, just eating is the problem.  I have a sick feeling in my stomach, but I'm trying to stay calm.  I know we have to wait 24-48 hrs to see if it's a reaction, but right now, that is so difficult.  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

goblue

I am so sorry you are going through this.  We thought DS would never stop bradying! Most kids have a "reaction/response" to vaccines.  DS just got his 15 month shots and for 24 hours he really wasn't himself.  So, your LO may just need a little time to get back to normal.  Hopefully he will be himself by the time you visit again.

Also (and I say all this to reassure you, not to argue with you), a brady to 84 is really not that bad; it depends on what the monitor is set at - but as preemies get older they sometimes don't even count them as bradies until they go below 80.  How low does he usually go?  how low did he go during the spell where he had 9? One of our favorite nurses told us that full-term babies brady all the time - but no one knows it because they aren't on monitors.  Everyone's heartrate fluctuates.  DS actually bradied the day we took him home (and he went home without monitors), but we knew it wasn't a serious brady.  So, hang in there, your DS will go home soon...

cjb62803

Goblue- thank you!  I'm not sure what he went down to during the 9 episodes, but he usually will go down to mid 70's-80.  I have recognized what they look like and can usually prevent them from happening, while eating anyway.  I know he'll outgrow them at some point, that time can't come soon enough!

ssg73

We had a similar experience last week.  Ella had her 2 month shots last week and was on a spell count to come home on Sat.  She got them Wednesday and had a crappy day Thursday.  She spelled in her sleep twice, which she hadn't done in weeks.  She also had trouble with her feeds and was all out of sorts.  She was back to herself on Friday and has been fine eversince.  We are slated to go home Wednesday AM if she can hold it together for the next 1.5 days.  I hope your LO is back on track tomorrow.  The nurses say that it is really common.  It doesn't make it easier though

mommamorris

unfortunately this is all too common. i've seen it in our nicu several times now. once with wren's pod-mate, who had to go back into an isolette, go to trophic feeds and be bumped way up on his oxygen. another baby in the nicu when we just got there had to be delayed going home by 2 weeks after her vaccinations. they really effect the little ones pretty strongly. after seeing this we have put off our daughter's vaccines for a while. 

it's totally normal. and he will bounce back. i've seen it take a day- or a few weeks... but he'll come right back to where he was. hang in there! the nicu is a wild rollercoaster anyway.