Oxygen again and a specialist in a month?
As some of you know from previous post that I have made Austin was born at 33 weeks and 3 days. He was on a C~PAP and oxygen after they finally removed the C~PAP. He came on the 8th of January (2 and 1/2 weeks before his due date..) on 1/8 of a liter of oxygen.
Dr. removed the oxygen about a month ago. Then last week we had to call the ambulance to the house. I had given him a bath and taken him out when my dog started carrying on at the door because she needed to go out. I handed LO to my mom and asked her to get him dry and ready to the day.She started screaming that I needed to call 911. I figured it had something to do with her so I grabbed the phone and ran in there (she an inseline depended diabetic..) She informed me Austin had already quit breathing once and that he was starting to turn blue. I dialed 911 and handed my mom the phone. I walked away calm as can be and shut off from the world and grabbed his portable o2 and turned it onto a full liter (something in my brain said that's what needed to be done) and put it on him. His whole body from head to toe was blue he was cold and hardly breathing. When the first responders got to the house he was 40% recovered. When the ambulance got here he was pink and cooing. (all of the stops in this breathing 3 of them was recovered by myself the rest was just super shallow)
They informed me I did the right thing but they thought I was over reacting and that it was probably because he got cold when they took him out of the bath. But to be safe I needed to make an appointment with his doctor and talk to him but they didn't see the need to take him to the hospital. THEY DIDN'T EVEN CHECK HIS O2 STATS!!!
When I went to his doctors office an hour later and told him everything I just said he informed me that the first responders and the EMS were Fing morons (his exact words not mine) and that everything I just told him was a apnea event in the brain. And then asked if the did a ultrasound of his head while he was in the NICU of course they had and I told him that. So he informed me that sense LO at that appointment was 45 weeks gestation he was going to make an appointment with a specialist in Kansas City which is 5 HOUR away!!! But he said that he felt it important and I trust his dr. to know what is medically best. So we're going.
So for any of you that have been a apnea specialist what do they normally do and what should I expect?? His regular doctors already put the o2 back on and seemed disappointed it took a liter to bring him back from the event...
Re: Oxygen again and a specialist in a month?
that was 20 minutes between postings. This is a weekend, for some people in the middle of the night, and the board is slow. I know this is stressful, but that was a bit uncalled for.
I do not have experience with that, but I do hope you can get it figure out...
I know it's hard. There's been a few times I've posted a question I was panicking over and expected an immediate answer, but pp is right. This board is slow sometimes...especially weekends.
I don't necessarily have any advice for you though. My Keira came home on 1/8 liter of O2 as well. She was on it 24 hours a day for about 6 months then just at night or when she was sick and then it was gone completely. I never had an episode like you just described and it sounds terrifying. You did a good job keeping your cool though. Your quick thinking very well may have saved his life! Good luck at the specialist and keep us posted. Don't get discouraged with the board. Sometimes people only post when they have *real* advice to give or a similar experience to share. It doesn't mean they aren't reading and praying for the best for your LO. Your story just may help another mom in the future.
i do not have experience with this either. DD came home on O2 & went from 1/4 ltr to off of O2 completely within 4 months. she has crappy lungs but we have not had any problems with her O2 sats since she came off the O2.
I am sorry for what you are going through--it sounds very scary. I do not think you will get alot of help from this board with that particular issue since I have never heard of anyone else mentioning this problem. Maybe google "apnea of the brain in preemies" & see where it gets you. good luck.
I'm so sorry you are going through this. I know it seems like sometimes people aren't responding but weekends on the Bump are extremely slow, not to mention yesterday they were having server problems!
I don't have any experience in what you are going through, but I wanted to commend you on your quick and calm thinking. You very likely saved your son's life!
I hope the KC doctors are able to make some sense of this and get it all figured out for you. Please keep us posted and let us know how you are doing!
(((Hugs!!)))
Sounds like you did the right things to me as well, and following up with a specialist would be best too. As the pp said all we can do is offer what we've been through. With Evan he came home on oxygen, apnea monitor and Caffiene, the caffiene was to help stimulate him to breathe, he'd been on it since birth. We gave it to him twice a day.
We had two eisodes similar to what you're describing, but probably not lasting quite as long. Evan was admitted to the hospital the night it happened, it was very scary we didn't know what was going on because he hadn't been having trouble with apnea. Shortly after he stopped breathing we rolled him to his side while trying to get him back, and milk flowed out of him mouth both times. Evan's doctors thought that he refluxed so high that the fluid triggered his air pipe to close off and protect itself. After that we had to raise his head of the bed, and pretty much keep him almost upright all day long for months. Thankfully it never happened again.
I have heard of some babies having trouble if their heads aren't supported upright while being held, that's what all the uproar is about certain slings recently.
I hope they find out what's going on with your LO soon, I wouldn't hesitate to go in to the doctors again if you continue to have trouble. GL and stay safe in the meantime.
Francie had a similar episode the day after we brought her home. She was not on O2, but was on an apnea monitor. It alarmed, and she was turning blue. When the report from the machine came in, it was determined that she had a brady episode that ultimately led to apnea. This might be something that they also want to look in to. It sounds like you acted appropriately during that situation, so you feel secure in at least knowing that when things get dicy, you know what to do.
Also, try not to get discouraged about people not answering. In all fairness, you posted at 12:24 am and most people (with any luck) are in bed asleep. It doesn't mean that people are ignoring your request. And I'm also not sure the deaf and/or blind would appreciate your reference either. Some of the families on this board do have children dealing with those particular issues, so please try to be sensitive to what others may be struggling with.