Pneumonia!

After Spencer’s first hospital guests left and we began settling in for our first night together in the hospital, I commented to Tim that I thought Spencer was breathing a bit rapidly. He was nursing fine and didn’t seem to have any other problems – and the night nurse didn’t seem worried – so I didn’t think too much of it. So when the lactation consultant the next morning commented on his breathing, I made a mental note to have our new day nurse get him checked out. She ended up taking him for his 24 hour tests (hearing, etc) right around that same time … then came back with the pediatrician to say they were ordering extra tests. So, after blood tests, an x-ray of the lungs, and an ultrasound of the heart, we were told they were admitting him to the Special Care Nursery overnight to begin antibiotics. At that point, they were just saying he had an infection. I think they were a little baffled because his oxygen level was fine, he was acting like he felt fine, but his breathing was twice the normal rate. After the next morning’s x-ray, they confirmed Spencer had contracted pneumonia before he was born and told us he would need to stay with them for 7 days to receive antibiotics. UGH! At least we were able to visit him as often as we wanted and I was still able to nurse. Talk about the longest week of our lives!

It was heartbreaking to see Spencer like this, but it was a little easier since this was the second child we’ve had admitted to a Special Care Nursery. At least we got the first night with Spencer … Alex was taken away within the first hour of birth.

We were relieved to see Spencer quickly moved out of the warmer and to his own crib within a few hours of being admitted.

Tim and I were exhausting ourselves trying to get to the hospital 3 times a day to visit/feed Spencer while still spending lots of time at home with Alex. Thankfully, Baba and Papa took the early evening shift around midweek, leaving us a little time to sleep at home.

The antibiotics did the trick, and once Spencer kicked the jaundice mid-week, you could tell he was ready to come home.