I wanted to write about our experience with having a newborn on oxygen at home. When I searched for articles or other people who had gone through this, I wasn't really able to find any. I wanted to feel like someone could relate to what I was going through, but I honestly felt so alone. So, if you are going through something similar, just know you aren't alone and that it does get better!
You know, I was no stranger to having my babies needing to be on oxygen after they were born. Colton is on the left, and Layla is on the right:
But Jaxon, well, he needed to outdo his two older siblings! Colton and Layla both had meconium in their systems when they were born. They were both put on oxygen and were off of it in three days. Jaxon, on the other hand, has a completely different story.
When Jaxon was born, his lungs didn't inflate like they were supposed to. He didn't take his first breath. Next thing I know is a button was pushed and the room became filled with people. At first I didn't really understand what was happening. But then I realized he wasn't breathing on his own.
The nursing staff and doctors were amazing! They kept me calm and helped Jaxon get some oxygen.
We ended up being in the hospital with him for 5 days. He wasn't able to keep his oxygen levels up on his own. He also was jaundice, so he needed to be under the bili lights. Each day that they told me we would have to stay another day, I cried. I bawled my eyes out and just held him. It was so hard to have to watch him go through all of this. It was hard for me to go through all of this.
On top of all that, he was also having withdrawal symptoms from the Zoloft I was on during pregnancy. I felt guilty that I had put him through that, but I realized that I needed to be okay mentally while I was pregnant and afterwards. It was perfectly acceptable that I needed antidepressants. I still do for now.
On day 5, they decided to send us home with oxygen. He could keep his levels up for a little bit by himself, but eventually they would drop. So, the hospital ordered us a large oxygen tank, a few portable ones, and an oximeter. That night, Intermountain Homecare came and set up our oxygen tank:
This picture doesn't do it justice. It was big and had an incredibly long cord attached to it so we could walk around the house a little bit. Everyone was great about making sure Jaxon's oxygen cord was attached, turned on, didn't get stepped on, etc.
I decided to do newborn pictures with him on his oxygen. That might sound weird, but being on oxygen was such a big part of his life at that time. I wanted to document how his life started and how strong he was.
What we were told to do to help him get off oxygen was to have it set on a certain level of oxygen, and then turn it down one notch for about 3 hours. After that, we would raise it back up to the original level for about an hour to give his lungs a break. Then we would repeat. This was how his lungs were able to exercise and get stronger. Once we was able to stay stable at the lower level, we would switch it and keep him at the lower level for a day. Then we would start the process over until finally we wasn't needing the oxygen on at all. It took about 2 1/2 weeks before he could stay stable by himself.
The way we monitored his oxygen levels was by using an oximeter. The picture below is not a good quality picture because I was rocking in my rocking chair.... But this is what it looked like:
Any time his oxygen levels would drop below 90 for more than 10 seconds, it would beep at us to give us a warning. Most of the time when that happened it was because his toe sensor had fallen off....The beeping was incredibly loud and scared us half to death every time it went off! But, to be fair, it is loud for a reason. It definitely would wake you up in the middle of the night if your baby wasn't getting the oxygen levels they needed!
I mentioned his foot monitor. For babies you are given a toe sensor and a foot sensor. They look like this:
One quick note: these newborn nightgowns were so nice for when he had to wear the foot monitor! It was so much easier to use the oximeter when he was wearing something open at the bottom. It also gave us easy access to his foot monitor and diaper changes! One more thing I loved about these is that they have the hand mittens. We would just fold them over and that way he couldn't pull out the oxygen tube. You can get them here on Amazon!
Overall, ot was overwhelming. I had no idea how to use the oxygen tanks, the sensors, the oximeter, and how to tote around the portable oxygen tanks while carrying a carseat. But you know what? I learned. You know what else? Everything is okay! He is doing well, breathing on his own, and is thriving. Want to know one more thing? I freaking love this kid!
**This blog contains affiliate links. I may make a commission off of qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Thanks!**
You are an amazing mother Nicole. Thank you for always being so brave in sharing your experiences. You’re definitely not alone, and now more moms out there know they aren’t, either.