Gavin's 1st 48 hours

Gavin was taken to the nursery shortly after birth because his body temp was a little low. I got moved into my postpartum room and Rich had to head home to get the kids off to school. I dozed off for a bit and went to the nursery to get him but he had been moved to the special care nursery because his breathing was too hard and fast. They like the respirations between 30-60 breaths per minute and his were ranging 80's-100's. They had him hooked up to monitor's that monitored his heartrate/pulse/oxygen levels and respirations. Just going to do this in time line format will be much easier.

4/22/08 - birth weight 6 lbs 4 oz

11:00 a.m. - started on i.v. fluids to prevent dehydration from breathing so fast and OG tube put in (down his throat, very small tube) to relieve the air building up in his belly.

2:00 p.m. - I.V. antibiotics started to prevent infection from fluid in lungs.

3:00 pm - throughout the day respirations remained high, oxygen levels were down some and there was talk about possibly starting him on a little bit of oxygen.

4:00 pm - oxygen levels back to normal and oxygen was never given.

6:00 pm - talked to pediatrician about feeding Gavin and was told no due to the risk of him aspirating the breastmilk since he was breathing so fast still.

4/23/08 1 day old: morning weight 6 lbs 6 oz.

5 a.m. - lab work drawn - later came back showing no infection in lungs, bili level was 7.
His respirations were great throughout the night averaging between 40-60 breaths per minute. Oxygen levels stayed great also.

8 a.m. - Neonatologist came in to talk to me. Said the antibiotics would be administered for 48 hours and if still no sign of infection he can come off those. Orders given to feed breastmilk via the tube - 5cc's every 3 hours. If he tolerates 4 feedings well and his breathing remains stable I can try to breastfeed :)

Pumping every 2 hours and he was fed breastmilk via tube at 9 am, 1 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm.

10 pm - got to try to breastfeed for the first time - but he wouldn't wake up and after 15 minutes of trying never got the nipple in his mouth :( They don't want me trying more than 15 minutes as to not stress him out. So he was fed via tube - 10 cc's per feeding now rather than 5.