Jacobs NICU stay

Immediately after Jacob was born, they nurses found that he was breathing a little faster than is normal. So, they took him to an observation area overnight. By the next morning, he was breathing normal, so they brought him back to us and we were able to spend the day with him.

That afternoon, his breathing had become fast again. They took him away to the observation area again. His breathing wasn't settling down, and they decided he needed to be admitted to the NICU. His oxygen saturation went down a little that night and when they did an x-ray, they found that he had developed a pneumothorax. They told us that sometimes it resolves on its own, but that there was a chance he would have to get a chest tube or have a needle inserted into his chest to drain the air. The treatment plan was to just let him rest and stay calm, and repeat x-rays and see if it is getting bigger or smaller. Over the next few days, the pneumothorax continued to get smaller. His breathing rate went down to normal and we were able to bring him home on 3/31/10.

It was very hard to have him stay in the hospital when I was discharged from the hospital. We never imagined that we would leave the hospital without our new baby. He was in great hands in the NICU though and the nurses were so great. We are so thankful and blessed that he received the great care that he did.

Before Jacob was allowed to come home, he had to do a car seat test. He had to spend 20 minutes in his car seat and his oxygen level was monitored to be sure he could handle the car ride home.
I was finally allowed to hold my guy and begin feeding him.
My poor little man. It was heartbreaking seeing him sick and not being able to bring him home with us.

Jacob stretched out in his NICU bed. He had to have an IV line through his belly button, a feeding tube through his mouth down to his stomach and sensors to measure his heart rate, breathing rate and body temperature. He also has on his sunglasses that protected his eyes from the bili light.