March 23, 2011 - 19 Days Old

Today was a crazy day. I ran around like a chicken with his head cut off most of the day. I won't bother with the minutia. I'll try to just hit the high points.

Amaraa got a phone call from the doctor this morning. She told her that they had increased Aiden's oxygen to 5 liters. She said his latest chest x-rays showed that his lungs were not as clear as they would like them to be. They were having problems keeping his oxygen saturation up where it needed to be at his current oxygen settings, so they needed to increase it. She told Amaraa that they were going to do a chest x-ray to check his lungs again later in the day, and that they were going to do an ultrasound of his heart. All of this information went together to freak Amaraa out. I was trying to catch up on some homework when she called me crying, saying that Aiden was not doing well. Each of the things the doctor had told her, separately, were not overly concerning, but together without a lot of explanation, they were terrifying for Amaraa. Since I've been more involved in the day to day medical stuff going on with Aiden, I didn't see any reason to be alarmed, but told her I would go to the hospital and talk to the doctor later on today. Amaraa was coughing all night last night and I think she is coming down with the same cough Skylar has now (does it ever end at our house???), so she can't visit Aiden until she is better. Anyway, I calmed her down a bit and told her I didn't think she needed to be overly worried about Aiden.

Amaraa had a follow-up doctor's appointment this afternoon. She is still in quite a bit of pain and it doesn't seem to be getting much better. Since her medication has been making her sick, she has been trying to do without the pain medication as much as she is able. Dr. Allen checked her out and said that she has an infection and he prescribed some antibiotics for her. He also changed her pain meds to one that shouldn't hurt her stomach as much. After the appointment, I dropped Amaraa off at home and went to pick up her prescriptions.

When I got home, I made some soup for dinner and then drove to the hospital to visit Aiden. He was sleeping peacefully in the incubator when I got there. I opened the little door on the side and put my finger in his hand. He gripped it tight and held on to it. He looked great. The nurse came in and told me that Aiden had been very gassy today and they had just done an x-ray to see if there was cause for concern. She said that I wouldn't be able to hold him until the Nurse Practitioner had a chance to read the x-rays. A few minutes later, the nurse came in and said that the NP had looked at the x-rays and didn't feel there was a cause for alarm. The nurse asked if I would like to hold Aiden skin-to-skin. I decided to do it. It was a bit awkward and embarrassing at first, but it turned out to be such a neat experience. He nestled into my chest and slept there for a while. Then he turned himself around and laid down in my arms. Occasionally, he opened his eyes and looked up at me. It was a special time. I held him for about 45 minutes and then decided to put him back in his bed. I talked to the nurse about the doctor's phone call to Amaraa this morning. She said that the oxygen level will fluctuate until finally they are able to taper it all the way down to zero. The increase showed that his lungs still aren't able to maintain sufficient oxygen saturation on their own yet, and today they had to increase the level to keep it where they needed to be. She said there was no reason to be worried. I asked her about the chest x-rays and she said they do chest x-rays on a regular basis to check the lungs. In preemies, they almost always show some stuff in the lungs. His are no exception. She said they would clear up as the lungs develop further and Aiden gets a little time under his belt. I asked her about the ultrasound of the heart that the doctor had mentioned. She said it was a routine ultrasound to see if the ductus arteriosis, a blood vessel that connects the pulmonary artery and the aorta that normally closes shortly after birth, had closed correctly. It was not connected to the chest x-ray or the oxygen increase. The nurse was actually surprised that Aiden was doing so well for his age and size. She said he is making good progress and things are going well. I felt much better about things and immediately called Amaraa to report what I had found out. She was relieved.

When I got home, I was happy to hear that Amaraa was feeling somewhat better. She had taken her new pain meds just before I went to see Aiden and it helped her a lot. She has really been suffering lately, so I'm glad we finally found something that works that won't hurt or upset her stomach.