The Tests Start

This past Monday night (2/9) we had our first experience with a nurse coming to our home and hooking wires up to our little hero. I thought to myself, we better get used to this. It's the first experience in having strange and unfamiliar things happen to our child.

It was a simple blood oxygen test. He had a heart rate monitor strapped to his chest and a monitor on his foot. I think there was a total of 4 thin wires coming out of the bottom of his sleep sack. He wore it all night to see how well he was breathing. It gives a percentage. 100% is perfect and most people exchange oxygen close to that. We probably sit between 97% to 99%.

Evan came out with an average of 93 to 94. Not bad! However, the pediatrician was concerned that he spent a total of 24 minutes under 90%. He wore it for a total of 10 hours. At this point, I see that as a win. It could have been MUCH worse. I think a lot of that 24 minutes, possibly all of it, was when he was eating. When I was feeding him at 2am (that's right......what were YOU doing at 2am?!?!?) I was watching the monitor and I saw number in the high 80's, maybe even an 85. It concerned me a little but they said they can have a harder time while eating. Considering the fact that he is still premature I'm not disappointed with the results. Our pediatrician is going to speak with another Doctor to see if they want to do anything (ie: further testing, oxygen at night, etc). We'll let you know when we do!

Eric