September 12, 2008: Day 12

Today we got a late start and arrived at the NICU around 11:45am. Dr Freitag was really busy with new admissions into the NICU, and didn't come by to see Aidan until the afternoon. I had to drive over to work and Denyse stayed with Aidan. When the doctor came by, he said Aidan's stomach did not look as distended as before and his internals sounded good.

Denyse saw Aidan have another heart rate dip (bradycardia) at 1:30pm. Denyse did not have time to hold him this afternoon, so she let him sleep.

Before she left, they told Denyse that Aidan was being moved from the level 3 side of the NICU, to the level 2 side to make room for new admissions. They told her that of all the level 3 babies, Aidan was the most stable so they decided to "graduate him" to level 2. This was exciting news!!! We don't think he was really ready for level 2 because he is still on CPAP, so we call it NICU level 2.5.

A little background on Oxygen Saturation levels. The oxygen saturation levels are supposed to be between 80 and 95 percent, and can be as high as 100 if the baby is not being given supplemental oxygen and is on room air. High oxygen saturation when the baby is on high concentrations of supplemental oxygen can actually be very harmful to the baby. When Aidan is calm and the CPAP is functioning correctly, his level is usually between 92 and 96. If the CPAP has a leak somewhere, like Aidan's mouth is open, or the air is leaking from Aidan's nose, it is not 100% effective and it will effect Aidan's saturation levels. When this happens, his saturation levels will very slowly start to decline.

This evening at the NICU did not go very well. We arrived about 8pm, and noticed Aidan's oxygen levels were a little low, around 85, and then watched them start to decline until they reached 80 just as the Respiratory Technician was ready to see Aidan. We watched the RT clean out his airways. One side was completely clogged, explaining his low saturation levels. Aidan was then weighed (he gained 0.8 oz so he is up to 2 lb 1.4 oz) Afterwards, they re-set his CPAP hat. During this, Aidan's oxygen levels fell into the 70s, and before they could give him extra oxygen, they fell to the low 60s before recovering. This is the second time we've seen a severe oxygen de-saturation, and it is frightening for us to see. We don't know how bad it really is for Aidan and we will ask the doctor tomorrow.

After the RT reset Aidan's CPAP, Denyse was planning to hold Aidan for a couple hours. Aidan did not tolerate this very well. He was calm, and slept but he was having problems maintaining his oxygen levels. They were hovering first around 88, then 85, and finally 82 after about an hour had passed. I was just about to tell the nurse that we should put Aidan back to bed, and he had another bradycardia event, followed by an oxygen de-saturation again down into the high 60s. The nurse gave him some supplemental oxygen, and he recovered.

We then watched Aidan for a while in bed, and were waiting for his oxygen levels to stabilize before leaving him for the night. They wouldn't. They slowly fell from 92 to 89 to 86 to 82. The RT happened to be doing his rounds and stopped by just at that point, and I noticed that the CPAP bubbles had stopped completely, meaning the CPAP seal was broken somewhere and it was not working. The RT fixed this, but not before Aidan de-SATed for the third time tonight, and needed supplemental oxygen again. Aidan's oxygen levels stabilized with 23% oxygen (room air is 21%), Denyse was exhausted and we decided to leave. The nurse set an upper saturation alarm at 96%, so she could lower Aidan to room air when he was ready.

For whatever reason, Aidan was more tired than usual and in a more delicate state tonight. We decided that we would not try to hold him in the evening anymore, or at least for a while until he is off CPAP.

Focusing on the positives, Aidan did follow his huge weight gain last night with another good gain tonight. We really don't like leaving Aidan when he is not 100% stable, but we just need to trust that he is at one of the best NICUs in the country and they will take care of him. Plus, Aidan is still doing well, and we are probably just fretting too much about him having perfect oxygen levels.

We did take a couple pictures of Aidan with some new teddy bears: