Rough Day for both!

Today was a rough day for both of us. Things were going well for Caleb, although he was sating a little low a few times. If he kept going low they said they would put him on O2 thru the nose. They decided to up his calorie content in his milk in the hopes that he would pack on a little weight. Yesterday evening they started at 24 calories, and today they started on 26 calories.

Well... this did NOT agree with Caleb's tummy. He ended up getting the most horrible gas. He was not a happy camper at all, and kept having to strain with the gas. When he strains, the O2 is taken away from his lungs... you get the picture--this is not a good thing. I was holding him, and he was sating badly. He was trying to fall asleep but was so uncomfortable. His tummy was bothering him.

He was in my lap when his sats hit into the 40s (they should be 60+ for him). I thought he was finally closing his little eyes to get some sleep, that he was finally relaxing and his O2 would go up, but then the nurse said, "He's not breathing." Those have to be the scariest words that any mother has to hear about her baby. "Rub his chest like this," she said, showing me. She grabbed an O2 blow and put it in front of his face. Thank God he came back to breathing quickly.

With the O2 his stats came back up into the 80s, and then we had to get the OK to put the O2 back into his nose. His stats kept dropping and going back and forth, and Caleb was a mess--he was screaming and flailing uncontrolably. The doctors came in and ordered some tylenol and some gas drops for his tummy... they tried to feed him again (via the tube--thru the bottle was stressing him out too much) but he started to scream once more.

I couldn't take it and had to pick him up, wires and all, and rock him and hold him. With the gas drops, a warm compress for his tummy, and the reduced speed to his feed, we were finally able to calm him down. My sweet baby was finally able to get a little nap. It was only interrupted by another small fit when there was a little more gas... but a diaper change and a little more love and attention got him to sleep peacefully.

Wow... what a day... I am so worn out, I can't imagine how little Caleb feels. He wasn't able to comfort himself at all with that painful gas. They moved him down from 26 calorie to 23 calorie food. Let's hope that this fixes the tummy troubles. When I left the hospital tonight he was happily in dreamland, and I suspect he was so worn out he would be sleeping it off for a while.

All this from a little gas...

The good news about all this... you should have seen that little baby fight. Oh he threw his arms about, he threw his legs, he was going to fight this feeling of ickiness--he screamed about how he was in pain, he wasn't going to take it... when he had his apnia, the nurse told the doctor about how he was fighting that, too--he didn't give in. What a great little spirit he has! Caleb fought like hell, and I know he will continue to do so.

Good job, my baby!