6 am on November 19Th Preston was diagnosed with
Respiratory Distress Syndrome. The doctors believe that is was the stadol that cause him to be born with out a heartbeat and not breathing but regardless of that his lungs were still immature and he needed surfactant. Holland Hospital was able to administer him the surfactant right away. This was actually great news to us! Hunter was 2 days old before he was given surfactant so we were hoping this would give Preston a head start. The special care nursery has come a long ways since Hunter, they are now able to keep RDS babies as long as they can wean off the
CPAP with in 24 hours. So we waited. During this time we didn't accept any visitors. This may sound harsh but we did this for several reasons. The obvious reason is the germ factor, its cold and flu season the last thing Preston or any of us needed was to be sick. Second reason was because his breathing was unstable and he was fighting for his life, its recommended that he is not touched unless necessary. Extra touches may seem like love and support to you but to Preston it is using up the energy that he needs to take that next breath. The final reason was because Chase and I were on an emotional rollercoaster. Yes we have been through this before but still we needed time to process everything and time to make the decision necessary for Preston to get the best care possible. Through out the day Preston had his ups and downs.
First Family Photo
Holland Hospital Special Care Nursery
He was taken off CPAP and put on a
nasal cannula for a short time but then he returned to the CPAP. X-rays showed some cloudy fluid in his lungs so they started him on an antibiotic. At about midnight Preston was really struggling he was taken off CPAP and put on a ventilator. The call was made to
DeVos Children's hospital to send a team to pick him up. I was relived that Preston was going to some place where they could without a doubt meet all his needs but at the same time I was worried. When Hunter was transferred his heart beat stopped and CPR had to be preformed to bring him back. I was terrified that this would also happen to Preston and I wasn't sure if his little body could handle it. When DeVos sends the Baby bus over it comes complete with Ambulance driver, Doctor, Nurse, and Respiratory therapist (yes that's one expensive bus ride!). When the Doctor was doing her evaluations she discovered 2 additional things about Preston. One, he had a heart mur mur and two, he had a dimple on his but that may be connected to his spine. Just what he needed more cards stacked against him. By 6:00am Preston was riding the Baby bus on his way to DeVos and we thanked the Lord that it went smoothly.
Preston on the Ventilator
DeVos Children's Hospital
Preston spent a total of 16 days at DeVos. 3 more then his brother and 2 less then the average stay. He had 4 wonderful, I mean WONDERFUL!!!! nurses - Jane, Megan, Dee, and Angela. They really were great advocates for Preston and they cared for our whole family! We were brave and brought Hunter with us as much as possible, the nurses were great about helping him feel comfortable around all the wires and tubes and I am pretty sure he gave them a laugh or two too. I spent every day but 2 at the hospital with Preston. When Preston was 4 days old I ended up with a sore throat, I was terrified I was getting sick and wouldn't be able to see the little man. Turns out it was the not sleep for 4 days that did it to me. A day home sleeping did me wonders. The second day we stayed home because of a snow storm. There was a nasty accident on that had the highway jammed up that morning so we decided it was best not to drive the slippery roads on little to no sleep. Turns out even some of the staff at DeVos were an hour late or more!
Preston on CPAP
DeVos Children's Hospital
Preston did a lot of ping ponging while he was there. When never new what the day would hold for him. There were days we thought way he could be home in a day or two and then times where we knew he was going to be there for the long haul. His heart mur mur that was discovered when he was transfered had closed on its own and it turns out his dipple wasn't deep enough to be of conceren. Once his breathing was stable his biggest obstacl was eating. He had to eat 8 feedings in a row from a bottle and he was only allowed 20 minutes per feeding. Most of the time he preferred to sleep through his feeds. Its was frustrating for us but we needed to step back, his body was exhausted he needed this time. On December 3rd he was evaluated by a physical theripist. He recomened that we should set up an appointment with Early On through the Ottawa Area Center. Although his brain scans didn't show damage there was still cause for concern because of the lack of oxygen at birth. Th PT also noticed that Preston would not relax his legs he always held them apart. The best way to descibe it is spread eagle - sorry I know. We were told to keep his leg knee to navel and swaddled to hopfully his muscles would continue to develop.
Brotherly Love
DeVos Children's Hospital
On December 4Th I called at night to get and update. Jane gave me all his stats and then asked what I was doing tomorrow. I told her we planed to come up with Hunter. Jane told me to make sure we take the car seat because your going home with one more!! I immediately called Chase and started crying tears of Joy Preston James was finally coming Home!!!!!!!!!!
December 5Th our family of four was complete.
