Unfortunately, a couple of minutes after she was born, everyone noticed that she was having some difficulty breathing due to having aspirated meconium into her lungs with her first breaths. The doctor decided that she needed to be taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for further treatment, and would have to be there for at least three days. Kristina got to hold Claire for about thirty seconds before they had to take her to the unit.
Well, the three days quickly turned into a mandatory 7-day stay for treatment with antibiotics and whatever else she might need. Her respiratory course began with CPAP, or continuous positive airway pressure, which consists of large plastic tubes inserted a little way into the nostrils, through which a machine delivers an air/oxygen mix at a high enough pressure to keep the lungs slightly inflated at all times. Claire stayed on CPAP for just under 24 hours, during which time the nurses successfully weaned her down from 40% oxygen to 21%, which is about the percentage of oxygen that’s in regular air at any given time.
They then switched her to a nasal cannula at a very low flow of oxygen, and soon were able to wean her off that as well. She was able to begin nursing after about three days, and all that remained was to ride out the rest of her stay while hoping every day for a small miracle that would allow Kristina to continue to stay in the hospital so she could nurse Claire.
Thanks to the really fantastic doctors and nurses (and even a great unit secretary!), those miracles happened every day, and Kristina was able to be just minutes from Claire all through the remainder of her stay in NICU. We became friends with one of Claire’s nurses who happens to be the mother of a girl that is in one of Isabella’s classes at school, and have finally come home with our healthy baby girl, Claire.
You can see more photos of Claire in the Photo Albums.
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