Coburn Kids

Today was one of those days, when you wake up and everything is great. We brought the girls to see The Bee Movie, and they loved it. They were excellent with their popcorn and drink. Daniel and I had a good time and we come home and there’s a message from the University of Utah hospital. I’m thinking it’s just the Occupational Therapist wondering when we are coming in today for his feedings. But it’s the NNP saying she wanted to discuss some things with us about Caden. We think nothing of it.  Daniel calls back and then it turned into a horrible day.

Caden had a grade 4 A&B today that went to a Code Blue. He would not respond to stimulation and they had to begin CPR by putting an oxygen bag on him and begin chest compressions. They went through several rounds until they could start to register his heart beat at around 60 (120-170 is normal). They ran all his blood work today and it came back normal. We are still waiting on a viral screen and depending on how he acts over the next 24-48 hours they may also do a chest x-ray.

It has surprised everyone. Caden has not had an A&B for over 2 weeks now. The rule of thumb is that if they go a week without one they are usually home free. He’s never had anything higher then a Grade 2 before and even then they were few and far between. They can’t place their finger on what happened, it wasn’t after a feeding when you normally expect some reflux and possible desats.  In fact it was a 1/2 hour before his feeding so his tummy was empty.

I spoke with his nurse Suzanne and I could tell it really freaked her out. She was over at his crib starting his cares when he arched his back and clamped his mouth down then turned purple. She thought he was just trying to have a bowel movement as he’s been a bit constipated lately. But he didn’t stop. Before the monitors even registered what was happening (they have a 20 second delay) she knew something was wrong. He then went limp and a code blue was called. She told me directly that she worried what would have happened if she hadn’t been there at his bedside at the moment it began. That if they would have waited for the monitors to alarm it could have been too late.

They were seconds away from intubating him again when he recovered. He’s very wiped out and tired. Everyone stopped by his crib to see how he was doing.  The OT, the social worker, other nurses, the NNP’s. I’m glad that he was in good hands when it happened. I’m not sure how much of a setback this is at the moment for him. We’ll know more in the next few days.