A Rough Few Days

Poor little Dax has had a rough go at life...

Monday was his slightly traumatic delivery; Tuesday, he spent all day in the hospital; and Wednesday morning, he was circumcised a few hours before we brought him home.  

He seemed a bit out of it all day Wednesday and threw up (not spit up) a few different times during that day and night, which we think is from the anesthetic they gave him for the circumcision.  Thursday he seemed to be having a hard time breathing, but we assumed it was just some junk in his system from when he aspirated amniotic fluid during his birth.  That night, it just got worse.  He wasn't breathing well at all, and his poor little body was really having to heave hard to get any air it.  We bought a humidifier, kept him in humid air, used a saline solution to try to get gunk out of his nose/sinuses, and sucked what we could out with the blue rubber bulb thing.  Nothing.

We were all starting to get a bit worried because the more time that passed, the more difficult it seemed to be for him.  It was so hard to watch the little guy wheezing and pushing so hard to get any air.  His poor chest was retracting so much, and he was obviously uncomfortable and getting worn out quickly.  

Of course, Instacare was closed.  

Due to possible lawsuits, Logan Regional Hospital wouldn't give us any information or help unless we went in,  so we called the hospital where he was born:  Ogden Regional. 

The nurses there were so nice as they tried to help us, but said if he's really struggling to breathe (which he was), that we should definitely take him straight to the ER.  

So we did.  I was a wreck.  We called Robbie, and he was able to meet us there and we watched as our little guy was hooked up to oxygen, EKGs, a respirometer, and an oximeter.  His oxygen levels were in the low 90's , which was not critical yet, but isn't good for any length of time (they should be at 100%).  He squirmed and squealed and peed/pooped on the nurses as they poked and prodded at him trying to figure out what was wrong.  Luckily, one of the nurses was a friend of Robbie's, and was so sweet to us as we watched helplessly as our tiny baby was checked.  

Nothing visual seemed to be wrong, so they took some chest x-rays to make sure that the problem wasn't in his lungs.  Still nothing.  

We went back into the exam room, and the nurses continued with what we had been doing all day long: trying to soften the gunk in his sinuses and nose and sucking it out with the bulby thing.  After a good while of the saline/bulb experiment, one nurse was able to pull loose what seemed to be a rotten pistachio nut from each side of his nose. We think that in the trauma of the birth, something got sucked up in there and was continuously snorted higher and higher up as he struggled to breathe.  However, he's now doing great, and is even cuter than before.  

This is going to be the most expensive nose-blow in history.  

Oh, and today, he had to get a bilirubin sample taken, so we went to the hospital again. Poor guy hasn't had a day without the hospital in his whole life.