Who's dealt with seeing your baby turn Blue more than once in NICU?

Joni - posted on 08/14/2009

My Daughter was a 27 weaker and is also an over achiever, I think she survived because of her strong will and "Don't tell me I can't, because I'll show you I can" attitude.
I think that is what it takes is for them to be head strong.

Joni - posted on 08/14/2009

My Daughter was born at 27 weeks (2 lbs. 13 oz.,they said she was a big baby considering her gest age) and of course I experienced this several times.
It was as you said "terrifying",so I know EXACTLY how you felt.
My Daughter is 12 now and you can't even tell she was premie,God is great

Meliza - posted on 08/14/2009

When I came in for my 6th month regular check, they can't find any heartbeat. It was terrifying and overwhelming. They had to do a c-section to help save my only daughter. I have no words to explain how I felt when I first saw her. I felt so helpless seeing all the tubes attached to a tiny body weighing only 900 grams. I remained hopeful even after being told of the consequences. I told the wonderful doctors and nurses taking care of her that she will come home. I did take her home after 4 months in the hospital. She is now 15. Faith is what really helped us through. She has no heart and lung problem, very healthy and highly proficient in school.

Julie - posted on 08/14/2009

I also have seen my daughter turn blue when she was in NICU. On 2 differnet occasions she extebated herself when i was there. I have never been so scared. She is going to be 2 in october and doing well. She was on oxygen till she was one. But as Moms of preemies we learn thing we would nevre would have known and dealt with thing we didnt think we could.

Kristie - posted on 08/14/2009

Quoting Stacy:

My identical twin girls were born at 24 weeks.

It has been such a long road for us and I will be thrilled when I am able to bring my girls home but I will also be terrified considering they won't have the 24 hour medical staff around just in case something goes wrong!

 

It is scary bringing home a baby after having such a rough start, let alone two babies. it is twice the worry. Just remember that they would not send them home unless they were ready and that the NICU is only a phone call away if you ever need them. The NICU we were in was great and then nurses had said to call them with any questions. Once or twice I called the night nurses if I had something come up with my 24 weeker. They were already awake unlike the pediatrician and the nurses were able to tell me if if was something normal or if I should call the ped. Of course it was a once in a great while thing to call them, like when the monitor he was on was going off like crazy but his color was good and he was breathing. It was just nice to know that they were there just in case.

Stacy - posted on 08/14/2009

My identical twin girls were born at 24 weeks. They were first on the vent for about 4 weeks, then the CPAP, then the high flow NC, then the regular NC, and now they are on Wall O2. Let me just tell you that the amount of times that I've seen them turn blue is too many to count. The only thing I could think to do is to coax (or at least try to) my babies into breathing. They have been in the NICU for 12 weeks now and it has been the hardest 12 weeks of my life. But, it has gotten so much better these past couple of weeks. When we started out they would desat and brady about every 2 mins. The nurses would NEVER turn off their monitors (I think I would have gone crazy on them if they would have) but they did start to ignore them after a while. It has been such a long road for us and I will be thrilled when I am able to bring my girls home but I will also be terrified considering they won't have the 24 hour medical staff around just in case something goes wrong!

Lin - posted on 08/12/2009

I had my firstborn at 32 wks .. It all happened so fast .. I remembered not really being able to digest everything that was happening then .. but what really stuck with me was watching my baby turning blue a couple of time & me panicking thinking I would lose her .. It was a tough path ahead but we strived through & my baby is now a beautiful & healthy 5 year old *smiles* Going through it made me reassess my life & value it all the more ..

Traci - posted on 08/11/2009

I an am RN to and you are right that mom takes over! My last preemie (I have had 3) was a 25 weeker and weighed only 15 ounces. She was a full code straight from the c section and she coded 3 more times, twices while I was present. She spent 18 weeks in the NICU and she had a huge problem with bradys and desats and turned all kinds of colors! When she came home she still bradyd' and desated often and turned blue. She is just off of monitoring and she is almost 2. Terrifying doesn't describe it!

Shona - posted on 08/11/2009

i know how you feel my son was three months prem and had a collapsed lung at birth it went down a couple of times will we were in icu with him my heart sank evry time thinking would this be the last but hes fifteen now and the most wonderful child a mother can have he still has a few problems learning but other than i am one very lucky woman

Jennifer - posted on 08/11/2009

It was never diagnosed But we believe my daughter showed the signs of sids. She was propped up on the couch a few days after being released from NICU and my mama found her blue. We called 911. My husband and I took her to the E.R. even though the paramedics said she was fine. She quit breathing 9 more time between then and her stay in ER. SHe was readmitted to PICU and received blood. She is now about to turn 6 and doing great.

Angela - posted on 08/11/2009

I had my son at 27 weeks and he turned blue and quit breathing a lot. It happened mostly when i was holding him it was the scariest thing ever but there was one time that was the worst. He was holding his breath a lot one day so the nurse decided to turn off his machines for a bit so they wouldn't be beeping all the time about 5 minutes after she done that he stopped breathing went limp and turned blue I had to yell for the nurse because of course the machines were off and she had no idea what was going on! I tell ya though I hated that nurse that day. I think it was soo stupid for her to do something like that! Preemie moms are special, we go through so much that I think we never thought we would be able to handle before. I read somewhere before that certain moms are given the baby that is a preemie or that has a disability because we are strong enough to deal with it. Good luck with your babies.

Carie - posted on 08/11/2009

I am glad that everything is going so well now for you. My little girl was born at 26 weeks. I saw her turn blue a lot. Some days it was only once or twice and she had some days that it seemed like they were constantly stimulating her. This went on for 2 or 3 months. When she was 4 months old she stopped breathing all together. They put her on a vent and we prayed that she would be alright. She contracted Strep A from an "unknown" source. She did get better and is now home and doing great. She is 16 almost 17 months old, and now the only time she turns blue is when she is really mad and holds her breath. The Dr's told me she would grow out of it. Good luck to your little ones.

Sarah - posted on 08/11/2009

My son was born at 26 weeks, he was intubated immediately. Then on to cpap. We spent 6 weeks in NICU and 6 weeks in special care. The 1st few weeks i saw him turn blue at least once a day, always worse when he had an infection then it settled down until he came off the CPAP and it started again for a while. After his 1st bath he went a horrible shade like i'd never seen before, needed oxygen to get him breathing again after a few minutes of stimulation. It just wore him out too much. When he was at 36w he had an aspiration from a feed and was again intubated, milk on the lungs and phneumonia. He has been home for 6 weeks now, I have him sleep right next to my bed, it's hard to lose that feeling of what if....... Nothing has happened, he is a healthy little boy.

Kristie - posted on 08/09/2009

You are definitely not alone in your feelings! My water broke at 22 weeks and my son was born at 24. The first few days he was a bit purplish anyway so I can't really say I saw him turn blue - yet. When he was 6 days old we were called back to the hospital in the middle of the night because they did not expect him to survive the night. That was when I saw him turn blue. We was on the vent, but it didn't matter - his apnea was horrible and they had to stimulate him about 20 times the first hour I was there, and he turned a royal shade of blue each time. Five years later I have a very healthy little boy and you would never know he had such a rough start in life, but I can still see that night as clear as day. It happened several times in the next few months as well, but that first time is what will be burned in my memory forever.

Christina - posted on 08/08/2009

I am so sorry she was so early. I am glad she is doing good though. I am going through that right now. My son was only 5 weeks early but has an extreme case of apnea. He had a spell in the NICU and had to stay an extra 5 days. We were home a week and a day when he quit breathing over night. We had an angel care monitor so it alarmed us. I had to shake his chest for a couple seconds like they told us to. He turned blue the next day and we went to the hospital. He is on a monitor now and he had 19 episodes last month and he has quit breathing 5 times today. I do know how it feels and its a very scary experience.