Little Boy Blue

**I wrote this a couple of weeks ago and really haven't had time to get online and publish it.**

The other day when I was picking Lily and Navy up from Dad's, I noticed that Navy's feet were bluish-purple and cold to the touch. His fingernail beds were dark red, almost purple. This was not the first cyanotic episode.

Cyanosis is when the skin is a blue or purplish color because of low oxygen levels in the tissue under the skin's surface.

The first time I noticed it, his lips and the area around his mouth were blue. His hands were also blue and cold. I check to see if he was breathing before I panicked. His was breathing fine. I picked him up to wake him up. His color returned to normal.

I called the doctor about it. The nurse said that if he had anymore blue symptoms to take him to the emergency room.

So, I took him in. He was breathing fine and alert, so I drove him.

After a basic exam, they put him on an ECG machine and a toe O2 monitor. They ordered labs and a check x-ray.

While nursing, Navy had several episodes of tachycardia and a couple of V-tach.

Tachycardia is when the heart beats too fast. Ventricular tachycardia, V-tach, is when the generates from on of the ventricles in the heart. It is very dangerous.

However, because of his age, the echogenic intracardiac focus (that white spot on the sonogram) on my 20 week and 28 week ultrasounds, and family history, it was deemed best that he be admitted for cardiac monitoring.

I didn't know it, but the hospital I took him to doesn't have a PICU. All of that is under construction and won't be open until March 2012.

The ER doc said that we were waiting on critical care transportation. Navy would be taken by ambulance to another hospital that had a PICU. However, because he is so young, they wanted a team that was trained for neonatal.

The team arrived and put new leads on Navy. Then, once in his carseat, his seat was strapped to the gurney.

I arrived and my guy had a fresh diaper, hospital jammies, and a pretty blue blanker from Project Linus.

Long night. Navy woke up at his usual times to nurse. A nurse came in every 3 hours to do a routine exam. His monitor alarms went off periodically.

The doctor made his rounds about 8a. Navy had no cyanotic spells that were observed and his heart and oxygen readings were good.

Diagnosis: Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease.
Treatment: Thicken liquid to honey consistency.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease, GERD, is when stomach acid comes back up into the esophagus. It can be a common problem for babies, but they usually outgrow it by the time they're a year old.

When we got home and nap time came around, I started researching. They didn't do any sort of testing to reach this diagnosis. A simple throat swab would have shown acid in the throat.

Navy had his 2-month check-up, so there wasn't a need to schedule a follow-up appointment. He's growing and gaining well. HP didn't see why thickened liquids was prescribed when Navy is breastfed. Nursing is better for me and more comforting for him. So, Zantac was prescribed to see if that has any effect on his cyanotic episodes.

Hurry up and wait.