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NICU newbie question about decels
Can someone explain to me in layman's terms what it means when your baby has heart decels and low saturations? My DS has been in the NICU a week tomorrow, and the decels have only happened 3 times total, one of those times being this morning. The nurses don't seem TOO overly concerned about it, but I'm just curious what you ladies can tell me about them. When I ask and get a bunch of medical talk, and it's hard for me to follow. Thanks!
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Re: NICU newbie question about decels
There are three #'s on your baby's monitor. Heart rate, breaths per minute, and oxygen saturation. If baby isn't getting enough oxygen, his sats drop (oxygen saturation). It should be in the 90's. You will see this # drop sometimes when baby doesn't take a deep enough breath but it should come right back up.
If baby stops breathing (called apnea), heart rate will drop which will cause oxygen saturation to drop. This, in my NICU, was called a desat.
Sometimes preemies forget to breathe and need some stimulation to get going again. Sometimes stimulation (tapping/pinching baby's foot) doesn't work and baby needs to be bagged. This happened to Aiden many times in the NICU. This is when they force oxygen into his lungs through an oxygen mask/bag type thing.
Hope that helps.
I think that the exact definition depends on the NICU. For example, at my NICU they call them "bradys" when the heartrate drops. They don't count it as a brady if it's because we are messing with her or she is having something done, or if she recovers them quickly (ie, a few seconds without needing to stimulate her) etc. Some NICUs don't count them unless they last 20 seconds or more, or if they happen in succession.
My NICU calls a desat when they have to increase her oxygen because she isn't able to recover on her own. Her oxygen saturation parameters are set 85 to 95%.
Don't feel like you are bothering the nurses when you ask for clarification--most are more than happy to help! Even though I do have a medical/science background with pharmacy, I had never heard of retic counts and had to stop the nurse a few times for her to explain to me what that was. Try to make it a point to stop the nurse if you don't understand a word or clinical term--ask specifically what that means before she continues.
Me: PCOS DH: Low everything (MFI)
Clomid with TI x 3 2010 BFN
Clomid+IUI+Ovidrel 2010 BFN
IVF w/ICSI #1 2011
9/8/11 Beta #1: 2082!! 9/19/11 Beta#2 34,689!! U/S 9/22/11 HR 127! 11/8/11 HR 150! 12/6/11 HR 136! 12/14/11 HR 139! Born at 26w2d on 2/4/2012! After 83 days in the NICU, Adalyn came home on 4/26/12!
FET 1 3/2013 BFN
FET 2 5/2013 BFN
One of my girls has had 3 bradys (decels) this week, so I asked my neonatologist about it. He said they don't get concerned unless babies have 10-12 in one DAY, and even then, they can treat it with caffeine (stimulates the brainstem). He also said, it won't be her last, so don't stress about it. One of the nurses told me they do this until close to their due date sometimes. It just means they forget to breathe for a little too long...in the case of my DD, she was able to get herself out of it. As for the oxygen sat, my girls dip below 90 all day long, and none of the nurses even blink an eye. Sometimes just changing their position a little helps.
Best of luck! I know all this stuff is complicated and stressful.
3 in one week is really good for a NICU baby. I won't repeat what everyone else said but one thing i learned after 49 days in the NICU was that if the nurses aren't concerned, I didn't need to be. My son had been on caffeine for awhile for desats and by the time he went home did not even need a monitor. Along with the number in a day, they look at how long the desat lasts for anbd if the baby gets back on track on his own quickly or needs outside stimulation. If he gets back on his own you truly have nothing to worry about right now! Good luck!
DD's heart rate would go through the roof then, much less often, would drop "too low". She never stopped breathing and I don't remember her saturation geting too low to cause concern. But that monitor went off sometimes dozens of times we visited her in the NICU. The nurses even said just the stimulation of being held or nursing would make it change to abnormal levels, on paper, but there wouldn't be a real problem. It's kinda like the fetal monitoring strip, I just started ignoring it so I wouldn't go bonkers worrying. But DD was very well off and healthy by NICU standards.