Exie was given the all-clear yesterday and we were released in the early afternoon. Phew. Exhausted but relieved, we bundled her into her car seat and set off for home. Susan sat in the backseat with Exie.
Less than 10 minutes from the hospital, while Susan was on the phone with Exie’s new pediatrician (Dr. Noland), she said, “Grace! She’s turning blue! Pull over!” We unstrapped her from the seat and did what we saw the nurses do previously when Exie had an episode – shook her gently and patted her and tried to wake her up. But she wouldn’t wake up and she seemed like she wasn’t getting any less blue. We called Dr. Noland back and she advised us to head back to the NICU. We honked and ran red lights and stopsigns and got back as quickly as possible. Susan was holding Exie in her lap, and Exie was looking less blue, but she still wouldn’t wake up. When we got there, we decided I better run her up to the NICU (Susan was obviously in no position to run anywhere) where they immediately re-admitted her.
To make a long story short, it turned out to be a similar-looking symptom with a different cause. After a number of tests (EKG, heart ultrasound, chest x-ray) and overnight monitoring, it was determined that she was fine. The symptom we saw in the car was subtly different than the one she originally exhibited. Originally, she did indeed stop breathing. In the car, however, she didn’t, even though her face wasn’t getting a lot of oxygen. This happens with some newborns and is not necessarily anything to worry about – their bodies make sure that the important stuff (brain, etc.) get oxygen first, and sometimes places with lots of little capillaries (face, hands, feet) go a little short. We were told that if her tongue and lips had gone blue in the car, then that would have been an indicator that something more serious was wrong. When we brought Exie back in, we couldn’t tell the doctors whether her tongue and lips were blue in the car since we didn’t know to look for that. In any case, the doctors said that we had done the right thing and we are of course extremely grateful that she’s okay.
So today, after another night in our same temporary room, we really did get to go home. We made the journey without mishap (except that Susan has to keep holding Exie’s head in an un-jackknifed position). We carried our cute little sleeping bundle into our cute little Palo Alto house on our cute little tree-lined street. Maybe I should build a picket fence.
Sarcasm aside, we are extremely happy to be home, even though we don’t have any idea what we’re doing. Whoohoo!
going home
the car seat seemed small until Exie was in it
Exie was given the all-clear yesterday and we were released in the early afternoon. Phew. Exhausted but relieved, we bundled her into her car seat and set off for home. Susan sat in the backseat with Exie.
Less than 10 minutes from the hospital, while Susan was on the phone with Exie’s new pediatrician (Dr. Noland), she said, “Grace! She’s turning blue! Pull over!” We unstrapped her from the seat and did what we saw the nurses do previously when Exie had an episode – shook her gently and patted her and tried to wake her up. But she wouldn’t wake up and she seemed like she wasn’t getting any less blue. We called Dr. Noland back and she advised us to head back to the NICU. We honked and ran red lights and stopsigns and got back as quickly as possible. Susan was holding Exie in her lap, and Exie was looking less blue, but she still wouldn’t wake up. When we got there, we decided I better run her up to the NICU (Susan was obviously in no position to run anywhere) where they immediately re-admitted her.
To make a long story short, it turned out to be a similar-looking symptom with a different cause. After a number of tests (EKG, heart ultrasound, chest x-ray) and overnight monitoring, it was determined that she was fine. The symptom we saw in the car was subtly different than the one she originally exhibited. Originally, she did indeed stop breathing. In the car, however, she didn’t, even though her face wasn’t getting a lot of oxygen. This happens with some newborns and is not necessarily anything to worry about – their bodies make sure that the important stuff (brain, etc.) get oxygen first, and sometimes places with lots of little capillaries (face, hands, feet) go a little short. We were told that if her tongue and lips had gone blue in the car, then that would have been an indicator that something more serious was wrong. When we brought Exie back in, we couldn’t tell the doctors whether her tongue and lips were blue in the car since we didn’t know to look for that. In any case, the doctors said that we had done the right thing and we are of course extremely grateful that she’s okay.
So today, after another night in our same temporary room, we really did get to go home. We made the journey without mishap (except that Susan has to keep holding Exie’s head in an un-jackknifed position). We carried our cute little sleeping bundle into our cute little Palo Alto house on our cute little tree-lined street. Maybe I should build a picket fence.
Sarcasm aside, we are extremely happy to be home, even though we don’t have any idea what we’re doing. Whoohoo!