Baby Luke heads to the NICU

That second night was really rough for Luke. He cried for HOURS. I was so tired, Sam was too, he slept in the room with me both nights that I was there. We took turns holding Luke while he cried his head off. He had the tiniest little cry, it sounded like he was a baby kitten.  I didn't notice that it was particularly out of the ordinary, but the night nurse did, she heard some "stridor" when he inhaled on his cries. She asked if she could take him down to the Special Care unit (not the NICU, they didn't have one at that particular hospital.) I was just so glad I could get some sleep finally. They told me a few hours later that his oxygen saturation was too low, so he had to be monitored. They said it was a possible problem with either his airways or his heart. I was so scared, and hoped and prayed he didn't have heart problems.  They monitored him for about twelve hours in the special care unit, and did an echocardiogram.  It came back normal (THANK GOODNESS!) but his oxygen saturation wouldn't stay up in the normal range when he cried so they decided he needed to be transferred to a NICU at a bigger hospital.  I was again scared and shocked- we had never had a baby in the NICU before. The transfer to the hospital was the scariest part, because they had to transport him so carefully, in a special bed and with oxygen and respiratory therapists. It made me nervous that he was in danger of dying at any minute- but of course he wasn't. They told me I could ride in the ambulance, which I wanted to do because I didn't want to be away from him, but then they told me he had to stay in his special box the whole time, and I couldn't hold or touch him anyway. So I decided to follow the ambulance with Samuel. I was discharged at the same time he was transferred.

 

There was four people in that ambulance with him. They were so nice and reassured me that he slept the whole way. He was already in his new bed in the NICU when we got to St. Joseph's hospital. Amazingly, Sam's friend from nursing school was a night nurse in the NICU there. We called him on the way and he gave us a good idea of what to expect, and told us he was working the next night and would look for us. It was nice to have a connection there. 

He was comfortable and sleeping in his warmer when we got there. He would cry every night for hours during the three days that we were there. The night nurses were a huge blessing. They set Sam and I up in a room one floor below and would call me every few hours at night to feed him. His oxygen sats would always improve when he was nursing, which he had been a pro at from the beginning. That was unusual and awesome and a very good sign. I got to hold him as much as I wanted and held him the majority of the day, Sam as well.

He was really good during the day. We loved to hold him but the monitors would always be beeping at us, especially when they wires and monitors moved and didn't get a full signal. But he did good. At night when he cried, they would see the oxygen sats dip. Sometimes his lips would turn a little blue. He would recover well once they got him calmed down. They decided to schedule a pediatric ENT to come put a scope down him and check his airways.