Day 770 - Sleep Study at the Hospital 🏥

Wednesday, February 8th, 2023

James had early intervention therapy at 11:30am and then took a good nap from 1pm to 3pm. After that we video chatted with Juju, Aunt Robin, Champ, and Tommy. We needed to be at the hospital at 8pm so we started a bath and trach around 6:30pm. James also needed his pulmicort nebulizer treatment completed so we put him on the vent for 15 minutes to administer. Of course we were rushing out the door!

🏥 We were planning on Dad coming in just for the setup and then going back home. However when we arrived there was a queen size bed in the room so Dad stayed the night as well. This was the first time being back at the hospital where James was born and where we lived for 6 months. The NICU is separate from the PICU at St. Joseph's. These used to be two separate hospitals but recently merged. This time we were on the 4th floor of the NICU. It was pretty empty and quiet.

James had 25 sensors attached to his head, face, and chest. They monitored his brain waves, oxygen levels, heart rate and breathing as well as eye and leg movements while he slept off the ventilator. The room was dark because he wasn't on the equipment that we were used to which would dimly light up the room at night. There was a video camera with night vision so the nurse could monitor James. The nurse was very nice. This was a very different experience from normally being in the hospital; it felt more like a hotel room. The only numbers that Mom could see getting monitored were the heart rate and the CO2. The other numbers were monitored outside of the room. This was really hard for Mom because she has watched James' oxygen level every night. Mom asked the nurse about the protocol about possibly needing oxygen and she stated that he would need to drop to 90 for 10 minutes in order for them to give him oxygen. We knew that this probably wouldn't happen because he only ever goes to like 93 when napping during the day off the vent and it's usually just for a few minutes.

We needed to bring everything from home as if we were at home so that included his feeding pump along with his formula, water, ice packs, and measuring cups as well as his suction machine. Dad fell quickly asleep while Mom stayed up to do his formula at 11pm and also needed to suction James pretty often... 🥱 The nurse said she would be in at 5am to discharge us!

P.S. You can email James your love and support as often as you’d like. Mom and Dad read these email to James as they come in. We all love them! JamesWestonAbramowitz@gmail.com