As the nurse checked Weston over, she noticed that he was struggling to breathe a little bit - what they called "retraction." So they decided to monitor him in the nursery for a little while. So for a few hours we just waited for our little boy to come be with us. Rob was glued to his cell phone - Stefanie was just recovering. After a little while his breathing was still giving him problems, so they made him a little "tent" with a little extra oxygen.
By the evening the on-call pediatrician had ordered x-rays and they decided to move him to NICU, because there is a doctor available there all night. At this point we realized that we wouldn't be cuddling our baby on the first night of his life. The x-rays showed a lot of gas in his digestive system and the doctor hoped that perhaps this increased pressure in his body was what was putting pressure on his lungs. So baby Weston received a suppository in the hopes that he just needed to pass something to relieve the pressure in his digestive system.
He did have two "movements" overnight, but the breathing difficulties remained. He was put on a breathing machine called CPAP, which forces the air into the nose. However, he seemed very uncomfortable and was struggling and fighting, all of which counteracts the assistance that the CPAP is trying to give him. The next step in trying to help him was to intubate him. This is essentially a tube down the throat that is set to breathe a minimum number of breaths per minute. If Weston takes a breath on his own, the machine senses that and doesn't make him take another one.
"Nanna" and "Poppa" West arrived to meet their first grandbaby during this time. They already love Weston!
They continued to monitor his lungs using x-rays. Weston's lungs appeared "grainy" meaning that they are still immature and he was given a dose of a protein called surfactant, which helps the little sacs in our lungs expand and is usually produced by the baby's lungs before they are born. They also saw some pockets of air in the body outside the lungs - called a pneumothorax. This means that a small hole in the lungs is letting air leak out. But the air is then trapped in the body and now occupies the space that the lungs need to expand, putting even more pressure on our sweet baby's lungs. During the course of Sunday night to early Monday morning, they tried to use needles to take out some of this air. It worked at first but not well enough, so the doctor decided to put in tubes that would allow the constant release of the air from these pockets. They also heavily sedated him for his comfort and rest - this includes keeping light and noise away from him, so Weston wears a blanket over his face and ear muffs over his ears.
By this point in time, we are weary from the emotional roller coaster we've been on. The first three days of Weston's life were a series of "if this doesn't work, we'll try this" moments. Stefanie was discharged from the hospital on Monday afternoon. Driving home from the hospital with an empty car seat is an experience we never imagined would happen to us.
Please pray for us.
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