Sunday, February 8, 2009

sleeping with one hand on my nebulizer

I am a slave to the nebulizer. I never thought it would turn out like this, but there you have it. The nebulizer is a lifeline - literally.

When baby wakes up in the morning, many times he needs an immediate nebulizer of albuterol, which is a steroid for his lungs. At around 5am, the alarm goes off as his levels dip to dangerous lows, and it is all hands on deck, firing up the machine, putting in the dose of meds, then waiting, rubbing his back, soothing him, encouraging him to breathe, and all the while, staring at the numbers on the monitor, waiting to see if they wil go back to a safe level. To wake up and get thrown into a life or death (literally) situation almost every night is RIDICULOUSLY stressful. I have inhaled so much Albuterol at this point, I don't think I will ever get a respiratory infection ever again. Seriously.

But even with that really extreme and dramatic start, every day is getting easier. I am more and more familiar with what needs to happen, and what baby needs, and I can provide it quickly. So I think we have moved into the stretch of smooth sailing.

More soon......must deliver more meds and a feeding !

1 comment:

derfina said...

Do you know what his prognosis is?