Ruby Buttons

That's what the nurse is calling her today.  Apparently, there is a children's book with a character named Ruby Buttons.  I love it.  

We are hoping for an afternoon discharge today from Children's Hospital with little Ruby.  Or Big Ruby as she should be more appropriately termed, as she is a tank compared to some of these babies in the ICC.

On Wednesday evening, I went to check on Ruby as it had been a long time since she ate last and she hadn't alerted me that she was hungry, which was unusual in and of itself.  When I walked into my room where she was, I stopped dead in my tracks.  She was pale, very pale and I panicked.  I approached her, wiggled the bed a little bit and all that did was make her arms flop around.  She didn't move and I couldn't see any rise and fall in her chest.  I yelled for Chet and he came in and bent down to pick her up.  When he nuzzled her neck and kissed her face, she jolted awake, inhaled a deep breath and I saw the color immediately return to her face.  Her cheek was cold, he said. She fell back asleep as if nothing happened.  

A feeling of complete dread had washed over me as I was convinced we had lost her.  As I saw her wake up, I sighed a big sigh of relief but then panicked again.  What in the world had happened?  Was she really not breathing?  Usually if her chest isn't moving, I look at her stomach but that hadn't been moving either.  And was her face really that pale? What if it was just the lighting?  I paced around the house for a little bit, debating the scenario in my head, wondering if what happened just happened or if I was being overly dramatic.  If it hadn't been for the change of color in her face, I would have just let it go, chalking it up to a newborn being a newborn.  

I brought her in to Buffalo Hospital ER, and we were whisked back right away. She was doing great up until she stopped breathing again and her oxygen saturations dropped.  I was able to rouse her on my own and she perked up but they weren't taking any chances and had us sent by ambulance to Children's Hospital.  

I had to hold this monitor in front of her face that would alert if she stopped breathing.  She did wonderfully on the way down.  The paramedic was impressed that such a young girl as myself had five children and he said he was envious as he wanted more but couldn't get his wife to agree to it.  He reminded me how blessed I am and I had to agree.

When we arrived at Children's, we settled into a room to wait for the doc to come in.  The heart rate monitor showed Ruby had a pulse of 256 and from what I can remember, the nurse listened a few times by stethoscope and decided that she needed to be sent right to a trauma room.  A button was pushed and we were whisked down the hallway as the nurse yelled, "T2!"  to everyone she passed by.  Ruby was taken from me and the room filled with about 12 people, doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, etc.  

The room just spun as people ran around me yelling orders at each other.  A kind doctor took me aside and explained everything that was going on, although I can't remember a thing he said.  All I remember doing was signing consent forms and my poor baby screaming at the top of her lungs.  But they did a urine cath, spinal tap, IV insertion and a whole lot of other poking.

When all settled, he explained that with a baby this young, they don't take any changes as they can rapidly decline.  Her pulse was worrisome and her potassium level from Buffalo ER had come back elevated.  Turns out, the monitor was wrong in reading her pulse and the potassium level was a false high.  But we got all of her tests done in about 20 minutes as opposed to a few hours and she was very well taken care of.

Two days later, we still don't have too many answers.  She has had several heart tests done, one of which showed she has what's called peripheral pulmonary stenosis.  Basically, the arteries leading from the heart to the lungs are a little more narrow than usual.  Whether or not this diagnosis is related to what happened at home is debatable and her case is considered minor at this point.  It's not treatable at this time but it is something to watch out for in the future, as this condition can get worse as a baby gets older.   The doctor who is taking care of her now doesn't believe its anything to worry about at this point.  The other issue she has is a valve that hasn't closed yet, although I can't remember what it's called at this particular point in time.  The doctor said that in about 20% of people, it never closes and they live a normal life.  

So long story short, according to the doctor, she looks fine right now and we may never know what caused the problem at home unless more problems come up in the future.  He said it is likely it was a SIDS related incident that we happened to catch.  Another possibility is that she had a silent choking/reflux issue.  

For now, I'm going to keep snuggling with her and thank God for every one of my children because after all, they are angels that He lends to us and we never know when He will decide to take them back home.