hospital

I am typing one handed from Madelyn's hospital room (she is laying in my left arm) so bear with me as there will more than likely be lots of typos that I really don't care to take the time to correct at the moment.

Let me start with yesterday. Madelyn and I were supposed to have our first day at home together while Luke went back to work. Because Madelyn had started to sort of choke pretty consistently while feeding and had an episode while she was in my arms of gasping for air, Luke decided to stay home with us. Although she continued to have some choking while feeding, she had a good day. Last night she had some more intense choking episodes during and after feedings followed by short periods of not breathing. Once she was turned over and given a good pat on the back she was back to her sweet, happy little self. 

This morning after my mom (who has still been so kind as to spend the night with us) and Luke left for work, Madelyn and I were sleeping. I was in the bed and she was next to me in her bassinet. My dad had purchased this baby monitor...

He got it at Babies R Us and if it does not feel the baby move (respirations included) for 20 consecutive seconds an alarm sounds. This morning it went off. When I looked over in Madelyn's bassinet, her lips were blue. Her chest was not moving up and down. I snatched her up and turned her over just in case she was choking. Almost immediately once I started to pat her on the back, she began to breath. Her color returned rather quickly. I am going to interject here...I LOVE the monitor. I don't even want to think about what might have happened if we did not have it this morning.

Luke came home from work. Madelyn seemed to be doing well again. I placed a call to the doctor's office, but because she was doing well and we already had a 2pm appointment for this afternoon, they advised us to keep our appointment unless anything else happened.

This afternoon we headed out in the rain to the doctor. We love Madelyn's pediatrician. He is so thorough and we are so thankful. He discussed sending her home on an apnea monitor and treating her for reflux as this might be the cause of the choking and gagging during and after feedings that we have experienced in the last few days. He also checked in to the labs that were pending from when we were discharged from the NICU last week. We are still waiting for the specialist to read those labs as they were a little off. All this to say, that because of Madelyn's episode this morning after all that she has been through with the apnea before, the pediatrician wanted to make sure that reflux is in fact the cause and that it is not true apnea like it was before. So here we are. We were admitted to the hospital for monitoring for at least 48 hours. While we are here they are going to do the tests necessary to determine if she has reflux. She has her leads hooked up and they will continue to monitor her. Since we have been here, Madelyn had one episode while feeding. She gasped for air, then stopped breathing until I turned her over and began patting her on the back. 

We know Madelyn is ok. We know that most of this is precautionary and diagnostic. We are thankful for a careful doctor who would rather be safe than sorry. Our prayer is that some questions are answered. That we don't leave the hospital without some sort of explanation. If we do, we will just keep taking it in stride. Trusting her future is in His hands.

We do know that we will be taught how to use the at home apnea monitor tomorrow and that Madelyn will have some GI tests done. I know they won't hurt, but it is so hard to see your baby go through the things that she has so far. 

Please pray for her. She is our little miracle and we are thankful for her each moment of each day that we spend with her in our arms. 

*Kathryn