Conner was placed in an oxygen tent when he was first born to help him breathe. However, he continued to grunt and struggle to breathe. Although his oxygen saturation was adequate, Dr. Carroll decide to put him on a cpap (continuous positive airway pressure) machine during his first night so he wouldn't have to struggle to breathe.
On January 11th, Dr. Atkinson ordered an echocardiogram on his heart due to a couple abnormalities he had seen on my ultrasound Monday. We worked on weaning his cpap today but didn't make much headway after he got upset during his echo. He finished the day at 35% oxygen, after starting at 40% (21% is room air). I got to hold my sweet boy for the first time tonight at his 9:00 pm feeding, and it was definitely the best moment so far!
On January 12th, Conner did very well weaning off his cpap, going from 35% oxygen to 27%. The results of the echo were normal, showing only that a valve in his heart hasn't closed yet. This is called a PDA and is perfectly normal in pre-term babies, especially those delivered via c-section, and should close on its own in the next week or so. Conner occasionally experiences something called periodic breathing, where he forgets to breathe for a short period of time; however, his oxygen saturation has not fallen during this time, only a slight drop in heart rate. This is also very common in preemies and will correct itself as he gets older.
On January 13th, Conner's oxygen on his cpap machine was weaned to 23% throughout the day and we did a room air challenge late in the evening. Conner wasn't quite ready to breathe on his own, so the respiratory therapists put him on a nasal cannula for oxygen. It's so nice to see his pretty little face better!
On January 14th, Scotty and I got to give Conner his first bath and he loved it! He also reached 45 milliliters on his feedings so the nurse was able to remove his IV. Conner weighed 4 lb 12 oz today.
Conner continued to do well on tube feedings and nasal cannula for the next couple of days. We tried to bottle feed him for the first time on January 16th, but he wasn't quite ready to suck, swallow, and breathe all at once. His oxygen saturation and heart rate fell a little bit during the feeding, so we put off bottle feeding for a little while longer. Conner weighed 4 lb 9.9 oz and was 17 inches long on January 16th.
On January 17th, we gave Conner his second bath and he didn't enjoy it quite as much as first, but he did great. Some of our favorites nurses that took care of baby Conner throughout the week were Jodi, Tammy, Cindy, Briana, Alex and Stuart.
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