The night before our discharge Mike and I thought it would be a good idea to have Jack spend the night in the nursery so we could have one last night of sleep. Well that next morning one of the nurses informed us that when she was doing her assessment on Jack she detected an irregular heart beat and had 3 other nurses confirm the irregularity. They also noted that his oxygen level dropped when he was feeding but not terribly. So that morning when Jack's
pediatrician came in he listened to his heart but did not hear any irregularity so he spoke to the neonatologist and he wanted Jack to come to the
NICU for further testing. Next thing we knew Jack was in the
NICU getting hooked up to an
ekg and having his blood taken. The doctor came to talk to us about the
ekg and that it did pick up an extra heartbeat so he wanted to have an
echocardiogram done in the morning...THE MORNING...we are suppose to go home TODAY!!! At that moment I lost it and the water works started pouring out of me! The only thing I could think about was I can't go home without him, there is
noooo way!! Lucky the mother/baby unit was not busy at all and the nurses were
soo awesome and let Mike and I stay in our room while Jack did his time in the
NICU.
The other issue that Jack was having was he was jaundice. Jack's nurse Tina who was
sooo great and
brutely honest said that if the heart all checks out okay the jaundice is what may keep him here for a few days. DAYS!!!!?? It was such a shock to here all this within 2 hours of us being discharged to Jack having to stay a few more days! Below is Jack hanging with Dad and his
biliblanket (help with jaundice) this was nice so we could at least hold him. When we weren't holding him he had to lay in this
bili bed and wear these tight goggles to protect his eyes...which he hated.
So Jack had the
echocardiogram the next morning (which was really cool)and the results were good, the structure of his heart was fine but the
neonatologist consulted with a cardiologist who recommended that he have a
holter monitor which just monitors the rhythm of the heart for 24 hours. But that wasn't going to be put on him until the next day! So another day, this is day 3 in the
NICU. So below is a picture of Jack hooked up to the
holter monitor and the regular
NICU monitor. Not fun to change a diaper
thats for sure! So when the
holter monitor finally came off it was a waiting game for the actual results. By day 4 the
neonatologist finally informed us that the preliminary results of the
holter monitor were good nothing of concern and his
bilirubin levels should go down in the days to come and to have the level checked in two days and to follow up with the
pediatrician. And the great news...you can finally take Jack HOME!!!
So when we followed up with the
pediatrician, Dr.
Talwar went over everything with us. Basically what was causing the irregular heartbeat was the
Ductus Arteriosus had not closed yet which usually closes within a few days after birth. And his
bilirubin level when from 14 on the day of discharge to 12 so that was great!! So Jack had quite a bit to deal with in his first several days of life but took it like a champ!!
Well Jack is One Month old today!! He's a beast in these pictures!! In person though he still is kind of a peanut!
Yes he is a little cross eyed in this picture...its not all the time just when I want to take a picture he goes crossed! I think its his way of telling me he's done with the picture taking!
Don't you just want to pinch those cheeks!!
He probably farted here...he's just like his Daddy!
Jack is getting so strong. He holds his head up really well...still wobbly but he's getting there! And already so awake compared to the first few weeks! He has been smiling although I don't think he knows what he's smiling about and he has even laughed in his sleep!! Its pretty funny!
The girls had to get Jack dressed into his swim trunks! Its so nice when I go to Mimi's the girls do all the diaper changes...they ask for help with #2...and they love to feed him.
