Lydia, Nonna, and Poppa took turns watching Canon this morning so that Barry and I could get to the hospital extra early. We arrived a little before 7:00 and waited for Tera's pediatrician to come by to talk to us. The doctors had already made rounds, but she knew that Barry and I had some questions before we are discharged tomorrow. Tera weighs 6 pounds 5 ounces (2890 grams) and is still eating about 60cc at each feed.
When the pediatrician got back to our room, Barry asked her things that we needed to be looking out for, especially related to her eyes and her muscular development. She stayed and talked to us for a long time, making sure that we were comfortable with everything that we needed to know for living with Tera at home. I have a mix of emotions about taking her home. Of course, I am thrilled about the idea of just being back at my own house and having her there with me, but part of me is still a little anxious about it all. What do I do if she needs extra oxygen? What do I do if she chokes? I'm hoping it will all just come to me. The nurses and doctors have confidence in us, so I guess I should, too.
The pediatrician left a little before 9:00. Tera had a new nurse today. She was one that I had seen a lot and heard other nurses mention, but we'd never had her all to ourselves before. While I pumped, the nurse fed Tera her 9:30 bottle. She took the bottle great until the very end. She choked which, as you know, is not uncommon. The nurse got her to cough it up on her own, and she continued to hold her and pat her back for some time, just to make sure all of her burps were out. After she laid Tera back in her bed and turned around, Tera choked again. This time, she did not come out of it so easily. The nurse patted her back again trying to get her to cough it up. She just wouldn't do it. We could even see that Tera would stop breathing on occasion. The nurse would pinch her foot to wake her back up. Tera cried but still wouldn't come back to normal. Her oxygen saturation was really low, and the nurse eventually decided to give her blow by saying, "She can't go home like this."
As if that wasn't bad enough, she did it again not five minutes later. The nurse repeated the same process - more blow by, more pinching feet, more crying - before finally laying her back down. Then, her heart rate dropped all on its own, for no apparent reason. We definitely won't be going home tomorrow.
The nurse called the pediatrician to tell her what was going on. She suggested that they do a work-up to see if Tera could be developing an infection. I was nearly in tears. Of course, I was disappointed that we would obviously be in the hospital a while longer, but I was more upset about Tera's behavior. She's never choked while laying down, and her heart rate only drops when she's either choking or going to the bathroom. I was convinced that Tera had contracted some kind of infection, and the worst possible scenarios came to mind. I was also worried that this whole incident would scare Barry so badly that we would never be able to come home. He surprised me by staying completely calm and not worrying a bit.
When the nurses came in to draw blood and urine for the labs, Barry and I decided to leave. The last work-up Tera had involved a lumbar puncture, and I wasn't interested in sticking around for that. Luckily, she didn't end up needing one.
Barry and I got some breakfast and went back to Lydia's. Barry made me promise to take a nap before he would take me back to the hospital (we only have one car, remember?).
I learned once I got there that all of Tera's labs had come back negative (or positive, if you're an optimist). Everything seemed fine. Her pediatrician remembered that Tera had gotten her Prevnar vaccine yesterday, and we chalked everything up to that. She just wasn't responding as well as we had hoped.
The rest of the afternoon was pretty laid back for Tera. Her pediatrician had given an order to tube feed her if she wasn't taking her bottles well for the rest of the afternoon. I was fine with this. We know that Tera can take a bottle well, so feeding her through a tube won't be a setback. If anything, it will give her extra time to rest and recoup from her episode this morning. The pediatrician called in to check on her a couple of times, but we didn't have any word on our next possible Discharge date. Tomorrow is definitely out of the question, but we're not sure if it will be a couple of days or a couple of weeks.
Barry and Canon picked me up about 5:45 to go to dinner with Bob, Jamie, Eleanor, Caroline, and Alicia. Eleanor is one of Canon's favorite friends, and we always love watching them play together. You know that Canon is a bit aggressive, but Eleanor is so sweet and easy-going. She just wants to do whatever Canon wants to do. Tonight, that meant playing in the fountain . . .
. . . hugging . . .
. . . and torturing Eleanor's baby sister, Caroline.
After dinner, we went back to Lydia's. We'll be back at the hospital bright and early in the morning to see what our next Plan of Action will be.
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