Delayed Checkout

This girl has been nothing but delays, delays, delays! Nothing like telling her parents who is boss! Yesterday we had some slight concerns because she seemed to be shivering or trembling more than what I thought was normal. Newborns do have some trembles and shivers do to underdeveloped muscles. We talked to the pediatrician about it and he monitored her in the nursery for a couple hours, but found nothing of concern.

This morning, a different pediatrician was on call to do the final evaluation before we checked out and I shared my concerns again, because it had continued thru the day yesterday. His main concern was figuring out the difference in what was normal, and what might not be. It's difficult to articulate to a doctor what you see/feel. So after her morning breakfast, we sent her down to the NICU to be put on a monitor and they asked me to come back around 11:30 to feed her next.

When we showed up she was out of her bed, and under a warmer. She had more monitors on her and an oxygen mask lying next to her. Least to say, that was a bit of a shock and a bit alarming for two parents that left her lying all snuggly in her bed. The nurse told us that when she got into a deep sleep her pulse-ox level went low. Normal is above 95 and hers went down to 88 at a point during her sleep. While awake and active it was normal, but they didn't like that it went down that low during her sleep.

They had done a chest xray and ran more tests and were waiting results while I fed her. She nursed really well and her pulse-ox level remained great. The doctor came in at 12:45 and said all of her tests came back normal and great. So -- the mystery? Why did it drop?

He wants to continue to monitor her today and rerun tests at 4pm. If all is normal throughout the day, we'll more than likely still be discharged to leave. But he won't let her go home until we all feel comfortable that she is okay and this isn't indicating an oncoming infection or something else.

Billy and I just checked on her (2pm) and her level hadn't dropped again. And she's been sleeping with a full tummy under a warmer -- I'm sure she's been in a deep sleep and if it hasn't dropped again, than mommy is feeling confident that little baby is okay.

I'll post again later tonite with any new information.