Monday, 7 February 2011

No Go...

We were very excited this morning...we've seen a lot of other, bigger babies getting discharged and the mothers all seemed nervous...they seemed to look for reason to delay the discharge...Not me! I could not wait to get home with my baby!!  I was so super stoked and confident...Corgan had his ears tested by an audiologist at about 11am...She was unable to pass him because the test proved inconclusive so the test will need to be repeated when he goes for his check-up with Dr Egner...Corgan acted a bit strangely during his 12 o'clock feed. He never wanted to suck when I tried to breast feed him - for the first time ever - and then he seemed to struggle through the bottle...he seemed disinterested in his feed...He seemed to be a little weak and kept turning pale (more pale than usual). He seemed to almost stop breathing a few times and then even battled to keep his eyelids open...His arms even went limp a few times...We were a little concerned, but then he recovered...we thought it was maybe just a wind...or maybe we were imagining it... When we put him back in his crib the apnoea monitor didn't alarm at all so we put our concern to rest. We were asked to wait for Bronwyn, a newspaper reporter, to come interview us and take some pictures for the Mercury Newspaper...Corgan still seemed to have a bit of a problem with a wind or something, but he was okay. The reporter arrived and interviewed us and the cameraman took photos. Afterwards we filled in the discharge documentation and then we said our goodbyes and then Bukeka helped me take Corgan downstairs saying goodbye to all the staff we met along the way. We left the hospital feeling very excited and happy. A few minutes later Corgan seemed to be struggling a bit again...I burped him and he seemed okay.... We continued along our way and then a few minutes later he began battling to breathe and began losing strength and turned pale...his body went completely limp a few times...he didn't improved despite attempts to wind him...now convinced it was not just a wind I tried blowing in his face and flicking under his foot...all the things you are told to do...he would pick up, then fade again..he became so weak that he couldn't keep his eyes open and his arms went completely limp, his body pale as a piece of white paper... We pulled over just after turning down into Clark Road and we checked him...he was getting worse with no sign of improvement...nothing seemed to help him...We decided that we needed to take him to the hospital right away...We logically took him to St Augustine's which was literally a few seconds drive further and where Dr Egner has his rooms...I had no idea where his rooms were though...I debated taking Corgan to Dr Mannikam's rooms as it was right near where we were and I had been there a few days ago...I remembered that the other day Welile had mentioned Dr Egner's rooms are through the door, up the stairs to the left, I didn't even have Dr Egner's number - all I had was the emergency after hours number which was answered by someone sounding very annoyed that I had called during business hours...I just got out of the car and started running, Shane got out too - the security at St Augustine's is the same company as at Parklands but a completely different breed of person!!!  At Parklands the security are human, they have emotion - not at St Augustine's, they are like freaking programmed robots...they said we could not park where we did (surely they could see the panic in our faces?  the deadish looking baby in my arms?) Shane told them we have an emergency, they said we could not park there, Shane said our baby is not breathing, they said we could not park there...Shane never swears, he ended up swearing at the woman...I mean seriously, what a moron...Shane had to park the car elsewhere while I rushed in... I had know idea whether or not Dr Egner would be in his rooms now or not...Thank goodness as I walked through the door he had just come out with a patient and greeting his next patient...He seemed to also get a fright and rushed him into his room and checked him...Corgan regained some colour and began breathing, but Dr Egner was not happy with what he saw and told me we must return him to Parklands immediately because he is cancelling the discharge...He told me to make Corgan cry  by flicking his foot all the way back to Parklands... Shane in the meanwhile had parked about half a km along the road and had tried to find me and Corgan at the NICU and the Pediatric wards on the other side of the building...he had no idea where Dr Egner's rooms were...I had left my bag and phone etc in the car...I couldn't find him...I asked the same security cow if she saw where Shane had gone, she basically ignored me and made some grunting sound...I went back to Dr Egner's rooms and asked to use the phone...we drove back to Parklands in the frustrating after-school traffic...I tried to keep Corgan crying. His cries so weak and heart breaking...he could hardly continue half the time because he was so tired...I cried with him...At Parklands, security could see something was wrong and showed Shane a nearby parking while I rushed Corgan back up to the NICU at parklands...his SpO2 was checked and was about 60%...bad...he was put back on oxygen... Dr Shaik happened to be in the NICU at the time and tended to Corgan...he gave him a dose of caffeine too...Corgan had many episodes of apnea in the first ten minutes that he was back, one after the other...The caffeine dose first quietened him down almost into a deep sleep before giving him a boost of energy that helped keep him very wide awake for quite some time. He sneezed quite a lot and had a wheezy chest.  Dr Shaik suggested maybe Corgan had picked up a cold...The apneas subsided and he gradually picked up and then was gradually weaned from the initial oxygen blend of about 50% and a flow rate of about 2...What a long and disappointing day...Later in the evening I was upset because a staff member said that we just got scared...she said maybe we panicked...Well FYI I'd rather have a living baby back in NICU than one that's dead by the time he gets home...so angry...



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