My Turkey Named Matthew

Tuesday Matty finally made it out of the PICU. They had been trying since Saturday but he kept having apnea and desaturations (his oxygen level dropping), so they wanted to keep a closer watch on him. Finally he was doing better and having them less frequent and they didn't last very long so we went to the normal Peds floor. He did so good all day long and I was thinking sweet a day or so more and we can go home. My first blow was that he wasn't ready to eat from a bottle or to nurse. The Speech Therapist said with the way he was breathing he would aspirate so he would need to work at that more. Then that night I was working with him and he got a little milk and he started breathing irregularly and having too many d-sats. They put oxygen on him and called the PICU doctor to come take a look. I was frustrated because here I thought we were doing well and going to get to go home and then they come, and say if he keeps having them he will be back in the PICU. Not what I wanted to hear. So of course I lost it and wasn't doing so well. They kept the oxygen on, stopped his feeds, took some blood work, did a chest x-ray, and gave him an IV. I am so proud of him too. He is so tough. He didn't cry at all through all of his pokes and trying to squeeze the blood out of him. He is probably pretty used to it by now. Anyway, all they seem to think was maybe he was having reflux because possibly the tube was too high so they pushed it farther down into his stomach. Early the next morning they moved him to a room closer to the nurses station to keep an eye on him. It kind of freaked me out when I went the next morning to his room and he was gone. Anyway, after finding him they said they were going to move him to the hematology/oncology floor. Not because he has those things but because the nurse to patient ratio is smaller than in Peds. They were trying to keep him from going back to PICU, but still make it easier to keep a closer eye on him. I am glad because let me tell you the Pediatrics unit is old and dumpy. His new room is big and nice and it has a nice couch bed for me to lay on. Plus it is much quieter. Later that day he got his 5th EEG (by the way the results came back normal, finally!). The next morning he had done well all day and night that he was able to start his feeds again. Since then he has done fine with his breathing and he has tolerated the feeds. He still has occasional d-sats but that is pretty normal for babies. On Friday the doctor said if continues to do well through the weekend possibly he can be discharged on Monday! Lets hope!

This is our tiny little Pediatrics room.

All I had to sit/take naps on was one of those lovely hospital recliner chairs.

The day he turned 5 weeks we moved to the Pediatrics floor. This is the room from the peds oncology floor, so nice. Too bad I didn't have this room the whole time. The couch is pretty comfortable I took a couple naps on it the first day we were in there.