New With Questions *Labetatol Questions

[panguitch02]

I am sorry you had another bad night!!!

I forgot to mentioned that I only took 1/2 of the ambien. I think it was a 10mg pill, so I took 5mg. The whole dosage was too much for me, and my daytime nurse complained that I slept too late....as if I had anything important to do!!!

I also couldn't move very much while on bed rest. One of my nurses eventually told me to eat lying down b/c my BP would go up. For me: no visitors, no tv, no sitting up, no complicated puzzles. All I did for 18 days was read, nap, and listen to relaxation music. Every two days they let me take a quick shower...which was heaven.

[joejula]

I know that has to be hard just sitting their and not being able to move. That sucks. Just remeber tomorrow you will see your baby.

[trying4two]

Or maybe not. After telling me that it would be tomorrow around noon, I spent the afternoon making plans to that effect. But apparently now the schedule is totally booked for tomorrow and it's going to be 7am Saturday. I really don't get it, I'm sure most of those are scheduled C-Sections weeks ahead of me. Ughhh.

[caryn]

*sigh*

Well, at least you and baby are being monitored closely, and if they have to move, you're in the right place.

Hang in there; are you on a monitor?

I'm sure the walls are very flat and boring. Here's a link to some stuff for bedrest amusement: http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21397

[trying4two]

Thanks :O).

I'm not on 24/7 monitors. They do vitals and a heartbeat check every 3 hours during the day. During the night, they do it once when you call them to use the bathroom (because most people SLEEP, I finally slept last night after ONE Ambien.. it was Heaven.. and they happened to come to do vitals when I was asleep, so my BP upon waking was like 116/68... maybe if I just stay asleep for forever, everything will be okay!) and they also dip your urine then. Mine has still come back clear for Protein (though it always does), and last night had trace ketones. I thought that was weird since I have been drinking a TON. They also weigh you at that time.. and I'm still up about 5 pounds.

The Dr doing my surgery just came to do rounds.. he seems nice enough. Everything should start rolling around 5am. I really couldn't think of anything to ask him (I just woke up!) but I'm sure that I'll have a chance tomorrow if anything comes up. The night nurse commiserated with me about them changing the day/time.. but at least now that it's today, it's going to be tomorrow... follow that? ;o)

[trying4two]

I just wanted to update everyone quickly.

Our little princess was born on 7/19 as planned. She was 6 pounds, 11.66 ounces and 18 inches long. My BP during surgery was insane, as was my heart rate. I honestly felt like I was having a heart attack because I had the worst pressure and tightness in my chest and head. I couldn't stop shaking from the epidural, either. Baby Mia's blood sugar was a bit low, but they gave her formula in the operating room and took it again using a more sensitive test, and it came back okay. They started Mag during recovery.. and the next 24 hours were a huge blur. My vision was very, very blurry.. so if I was holding her, I couldn't even focus on her face. It was terrible, and I was so incredibly weak. They stopped the mag after 24 hours and I finally started feeling a bit more normal as the day went on. Unfortunately, that's when the "real fun" began.

There were two instances when Mia turned blue and stopped breathing during/after eating. So they took her to the nursery for observation overnight that Sunday, and her Sats dropped into the 70's once. Her ped. (who we love) came in the morning and wanted to do some blood work. Labs came back fine, but I guess she was thinking of her throughout the day and called me and told me that she had consulted with a Ped. Pulmonologist and a Ped. Cardiologist and wanted to do some more tests. Did I mention that we love her? So they ran an EKG and did a chest x-ray, but everything was clear with her heart - which she thought it would be, but wanted to be sure. She wanted to do a Neumogram.. which is like continuous oximetry monitoring (every breath, pause, etc.) and also a pH tube to check for reflux. She was admitted to the NICU for that. The pH tube showed that she was refluxing badly all night. They put her on Zantac 3x/day. The Neumogram showed a lot of desats. Her weight dropped to 6 pounds, 0 ounces by Wednesday. Needless to say, we didn't leave the NICU. I was discharged on Wednesday, but moved to the NICU to stay in a bonding room with her. OT/PT started to work with us because she kept choking during feedings. She has a strong suck, but it's a leaky one.. and she gulps and chokes. So we started working with them on positioning, pacing, etc. The Ped. Pulmononologist came to see her and basically (because it's complicated), she feeds more like she was born 4-6 weeks earlier than she was. She can't coordinate breathing/sucking/swallowing well. She is very sleepy and halfway through a feeding, forgets what she's doing. She has Apneic episodes. She gulps and chokes and he thought she was aspirating. He wanted to do an Upper GI and Swallow Study. Upper GI was normal. Swallow Study showed that she wasn't completely aspirating, but was constantly ALMOST aspirating. So the liquid would go to the flap at the top of her windpipe and would almost go down, but she would then choke and continue choking/not breathing/turning blue until she got it over to her esophagus. So for now, she's okay to bottle-feed and does not need a feeding tube.. unless it gets worse or they repeat it and see that she is beginning to aspirate completely. She is also Jaundice, but it's not too badly. Her Bilirubin was 10.7 on Day 6. So we stayed in the NICU until last night, working with OT/PT on how to feed her safely, learning CPR, getting comfortable with pacing her and handling the choking, etc. They really left when we went home up to me, since I'm the one who needs to feel safe with her outside of the hospital. The Pulmonologist/Neo agreed that she needs 24/7 monitoring w/ a home Cardio Apnea monitor, so we left with that. She still chokes, even when I'm doing everything right.. but we haven't had any severe episodes that the monitor picked up on since getting home. Her discharge weight was 6 pounds, 2.2 ounces.. so that still concerns me, but she has a Ped. appt. tomorrow, so we'll see where she is. I also worry about delays in other areas, but I guess only time will tell. I just didn't expect any of this with a 37-weeker :O(. We'll be working with the Pulmonologist and will continue with OT/PT, so hopefully things will improve over the next few months.

As far as I'm concerned, my BP was still really high upon discharge.. but the on-call OB said that they don't medicate until the bottom number is over 100. Mine had been running in the 140's-160's/80's-90's. My OB seemed to agree the one time that she popped in to see me (ya, not a fan of hers anymore). I really have no idea how it's running now. I must have gotten through last week in the NICU completely on Adrenaline, because I wasn't really in pain and didn't feel the complete exhaustion until we got home.. and now I've just totally crashed.

It's been a really long few weeks. I can't believe how quickly things evolved from Antepartum to L&D to the NICU. If you could spare some good thoughts, I would really appreciate it. If you have had similar experiences w/ a baby with feeding delays/issues, I would love to hear from you :O).

[anthonyleah12]

Trying4two,

Congrats! And Thank you for the update. I am glad to hear that you are all doing well, and It seems like it has been very eventful for you. My son was a 24 weeker, and he was in a totally different place then your baby Mia. However, we did go home with the apena machine. I know they can seem intimidating but just hang in there, it should only be a for a short time. We had a lot of false alarms due to leads falling off. I wish I could give you more advice, but it seems like you guys are doing great. You all are in my thoughts and Prayers.... ! Leah

[kara]

COngratulations and thank you for the update on you and baby Mia! What a cute name! Having had a 31 weeker who was 2.5 lbs, I can totally relate to the reflux and choking/feeding episodes. Our DD did the turning-purple-choking thing about 11 times one month after we brought her home. SCARY! She wasn't on any monitors, but I wished she was. I'll bet that her feeding issues are resolved in a few short weeks. They learn/develop really fast once they are home. The NICU is a harrowing experience, even for good sized babies. I'm glad you are both home. Please update when you can, and take care!!

[bellemama]

What a scary time! Glad you are both okay.

My 30 weeker came home with a monitor. I had a love/hate relationship with that thing! He had severe GERD and it would go off every single time I fed him. And it's LOUD. He had a weak suck, too. We ended up back in the hospital two weeks after he left the NICU because of weight/feeding issues.

We worked with a PT. Positioning helped a lot, as did placing our fingers on his cheeks to promote a good suck. We mixed bfing and bottles, which also allowed us to feed him upright, his best position. He had a lot of penetration and some micro aspiration issues, too, which continued until he started sitting up.

It took a few weeks, but eventually we figured out the best positions, tips, tricks and meds to make eating work for him. We were lucky, he never developed an aversion or sensory issues related to food. We took him off the monitor except for sleeping by three months chron and he was off entirely by five months chron. By the time he was a year old, we could take him off his meds.

Today, he is a happy, healthy, extremely bright and verbal almost-four-year-old who can eat his weight in steak and green beans. :-)

Good luck! I know it's scary, but it sounds as if you have lots of support.

[purplefrogger]

Well glad to see you and baby are home and doing good. My second boy was born at 35 weeks and he had some feeding problems I don't remember it all very well but I know in the nicu he had a feeding tube for a little while and I tried to breastfeed but he kept losing weight so I didn't even work on that again untio we got home. I know even when we were home I had to keep track of how much he was eating and we had these small little bottles to feed him with. Anyway it will get better you just have to have patients. Good Luck!!!!