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Into the night, we tried to do the same thing. However, his stats kept dropping frequently, and it happened most often when I wasn't holding him, and he was back in his bed. His "stats" are his blood pressure, oxygen levels, pulse, and whatever bunch of crazy machines all his tubes are hooked up to. Anyway, to comfort me, and help stimulate Kimble, I held him throughout much of the night. Normally I would be able to sleep just fine while holding him, but because of all his tubing and cords, I have to hold him in such a delicate way, that there really was no way I could sleep while doing it.
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Thus, I was up throughout the night. One night wouldn't have been bad, but I honestly haven't slept more than an hour here and there since Monday night. I am completely wiped out. Add that to post partum hormones, and you have one seriously emotional momma. My nurse throughout the night was very kind, but didn't really know what to do with all my crying.
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So, this morning, when I was trying to find some showers I could use, and completely broke down in front of the poor lady who was just finishing up her shower, I tried to pull my overtired-self together. A shower helped. Then I made my way back to the Cardiac ICU.
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When I came back, after having been gone less than an hour, there was a team of doctors around Kimble. It seems he had a few more episodes of "forgetting to breathe" (which is a huge side effect of the medicine) and his blood gas levels reported a continuous dip in his oxygen levels from the day before. Anyway, all of that had them deciding that he needed some help. As they were explaining to me a certain headgear thing they would be putting on him, which came down to the nose and pumped in oxygen in a "not-so-gentle-way" in order to help him remember to breathe correctly, I was alright until I mentioned that it had been a few hours since I had breastfed, and was it ok to do that while they were waiting for the equipment.
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Then I was told that he wouldn't be able to breastfeed with this equipment. I completely broke down. I'm sure they had no idea how to handle me. The Respiratory Therapist came in to try to explain what they were doing. The head doctor came in to talk to me. I was really trying to hold myself together, but completely incapable of doing so.
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Anyway, I tried to explain why I was so emotional about this. I knew they were trying to do what was best for him, and were worried about his levels. I explained that we had just barely gotten to the point where he wasn't so completely asleep, that he was making progress on breastfeeding, and the last time he had latched on, he ate for 15 minutes. That was so huge. I felt like just when we were taking a step forward, we were now jumping back. Also, since he has hardly gotten any milk from our attempts at breastfeeding, I was worried about his nutrition levels. Oh, and my feet are hugely swollen. I've never had swollen feet before. Am I not drinking enough fluids? I feel like I am.
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So, the doctors discussed things further, and I overheard words like "didn't sleep last night..." "wants to breastfeed so badly..." "emotional..." and they came back with a different solution. They decided to just have a little tube across his nose, to allow for "room air" (not oxygen) and as it is puffed into his nose, it stimulates his breathing. Also, they started him on caffeine (not sure exactly what's in it), and that is helping him not be so sleepy from the prostoglandin.
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They also prepared a back room for me to get a few hours of sleep, away from all the beeping and noises of the ICU. Before I went, we tried to give him some of my freshly pumped breastmilk in a bottle, to see if he would drink that a bit better than straight from the breast, and he did great. So with the realization that he had some of my milk in his tummy, and the assurance that I would get woken up if anything changed with my baby, I went to the back room to sleep.
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One hour later, I was up and needing to pump. Seriously, my boobs are huge. Anyway, when I walked back in the room, Kimble was up and showing that he wanted to eat. So I pumped first, because I was just too engorged for him to latch on, and then I came back in the room to try to feed him.
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However, his tubing across his nose prevented Kimble from latching on. He's got such a tiny face, that it just wouldn't work. That's alright, though. We fed him a bottle of what I had just pumped, and he gulped it down. I feel great knowing that his belly is full right now.
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During the hour I was sleeping, his stats stayed high. His blood gas levels came back great. He was breathing fine. Chest X-ray was good. Things are looking much better.
This next picture is EXACTLY how Heath feels about being next to my hair. He says it's too big and poofy and all the little hairs go up his nose and tickle him and he feels like my hair is a force field around me, and he should keep his distance. So apparently he got too close to the hair, and he let us all know about it.
Here are three cute boys. Soon there will be one more little boy to add to the mix.
This picture was taken about 4 days before I had Georgie. Of course, we didn't call her Georgie then. That nickname came later. We were having another girl and I was dying to use the name Kennedy. It seemed so perfect. I couldn't wait to have another girl! We were in the Air Force at this time, stationed in California.
Kennedy Lane was born December 8th and weighed 5 lbs 11 oz. She was tiny and perfect and looked like Kolby. This next picture is supposed to be at the bottom of the post, but I cannot get it to move down!!
























