Siena & I had such a sweet snuggle session today.The pneumogram game back abnormal. They noticed that while she slept there were times she stopped breathing, then would start back up. It's called "Periodic Breathing". Here's an explanation I found: What one observes about the very young is that in sleep, a newborn tends to maintain rapid & shallow breathing for a period of maybe 15-20 seconds & then she pauses. The pause lasts just a few seconds & then the breathing starts again. This phenomenon is simply a reflection of the baby's immature breathing control center in the brain. It is over-responsive to CO2 concentrations in the bloodstream. The shallow rapid breathing "blows off" or flushes the CO2 from the bloodstream, & the brain's automatic respiratory drive shuts down temporarily until the CO2 level rises again. Then the cycle repeats. This reminds us of the immature nature of newborn breathing regulation & serves as a good reminder why back sleeping is so strongly recommended for infants. Interestingly enough, they are given caffeine for this. It doesn't make them jittery- it's just suppose to increase breathing frequency. Dr's say it's something she'll outgrow within 1-6 months. She'll also continue taking the Reglan for her reflux. The Dr's want to send her home with a monitor. We will have to go through a training on how to use it. She'll have sensory wires attached to her chest that measures the chest movement & breathing rate. An alarm will go off if there's no breath for a set # of seconds. Unfortunately, there's a lot of false alarms- just to give us already-scared parents numerous heart attacks.
I have such mixed feelings about her coming home. On one hand, I hate only being able to see her 2x a day- I miss her terribly & want her with her sister. On the other hand, seeing my daughter turn blue on more than one occasion & the fact that she seems so small has made me a bit uneasy with her. I'm sure this will just take time. Especially the being so small- she's eating soooo good & as of tonight, she's back up to 4 lbs 11 oz!! (Born @ 4-13, got down to 4-5)
Sara got a visit by her cousins today that think she's "sooo cute"!
1 comment:
Both of my girls were on caffeine for a while, and I really think its what help them get over that A & B hump. They do outgrow it I promise, but I know how scarry it is to bring a baby home when you have all these things in the back of your mind. Take it one day at a time, and soon this will all be a memory. You are doing a gret job!
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