I wasn’t sure if the title of this post should be NICU Day 62, or if it was an addition to Day 61. I mean technically, I guess this would be Day 62, but since it’s a continuation of the Day 61 post, I decided to call it NICU Day 61 Part 2.
We have been discussing taking James home for the past few weeks and have been getting ready for the day when James can finally leave the hospital. I am happy (and a bit nervous to say) that that day has finally come! There were just a couple of things that we had to do first.
One of the requirements was that James had to be in his car seat for a certain amount of time without desatting or having other issues. The amount of time is based on how long it would normally take us to get home, which in our case is about 30 minutes. James passed the test with flying colors. His oxygen saturations (sats) dropped slightly, but a little suctioning of his nose and mouth brought his sats back up. I think he fell asleep for a little bit in his car seat, so we left him in there for longer than the 30 minutes he needed to pass the test. I think it was closer to an hour, but why ruin his nap?
Some of you may be wondering how we’re going to get him home when he requires so much equipment. Home health has provided portable versions of everything we need to take care of James outside of the hospital. We have a portable pulse oximeter, or pulse ox for short, that monitors the oxygen levels in his blood as well as his heart rate; a portable suction machine so we can suction his nose and mouth when needed; oxygen tanks and canula for those times he can’t keep his sats up on his own; and a sleep apnea monitor because there was some concern that he might stop breathing in the middle of the night.
After James successfully completed his test, it was Mommy and Daddy’s turn to be tested. Last night we did the “Care by Parent”. After two extremely long months, it came down to this test. Could we do it? Did we have what it takes to care for this little lifeform with so many medical issues?
In case you haven’t read some of the previous posts where I described what “Care by Parent” is, it was just Stacy, me, and James in a separate room in the NICU. Stacy and I were the only ones allowed to care for James overnight. We couldn’t rely on the nurses, unless of course, there was an emergency situation. If a situation arose, the nurses were just across the hall. We had to handle all of the feedings, meds, suctioning, diaper changes. Anything that James needed, just as we would have to do if we were at home.
There was one small twist to the usual “Care by Parent”. Neurology wanted to get a final EEG before they sent him home. So here’s James all hooked up to the EEG:
It may look a bit crazy or scary, but all of those colored wires attached to his head read his brainwaves. They’re looking for any abnormal spikes in the brainwaves that may be a sign of a seizure. The neurologist did see some spikes in James’ EEG which were thought to be seizure activity so she increased his dose of Phenobarbital a little bit.
Fortunately, the EEG was only a few hours and we were able to get some snuggle time in with James without having all of those wires attached to his head:
Mommy and Daddy successfully completed their mission, were able to bust James out of the NICU, and take him home! After two months James finally got to see (and hear and smell) that there is more to life than off-white walls, fluorescent lights, doctors, nurses, blood tests, and the frequent sounds of machines beeping. There’s a whole world out there for him to experience. One of his very first experiences in the outside world? Waiting for the elevator.
Before we left the hospital, the nurses gave us a “two months old” picture that they had made for him. Two months to the day that James was born, he is finally home.
And it didn’t take him too long to get comfortable in his new environment.
I will be taking some time off from work to help Stacy and James get adjusted to this new life. It’s going to be quite the adjustment.
Wish us luck!
I do want to send a shout out to everyone who called, texted, arranged food for us, and supported us in any way while James was in the NICU. It has been a very long two months, but your words and generosity helped make it a little more bearable. Thank you!
