Just Breathe

Before Lennon was born, there was a lot of talk about her lung function.  I only had one shot of the steroids for Lennon's lungs and being that she was only 30+5 gestational weeks, she could go a variety of directions.
The Nurse Practitioner (NP) came in from the Special Care nursery to talk to me about some of the big dangers of delivering at 30 weeks.  She was very honest and realistic about the risks, but at no point did she scare us.  She was able to talk openly with us and I so appreciate that.  I did not want or need a sugar-coated version of the possibilities.  The NP gave 3 scenarios: Intubation, b-PAP, or Nasal candela.  The nurse said she suspected that the b-pap would be the most likely scenario, but until the baby is here, there is no way to know.


When Lennon was born, she was immediately intubated to help her breathe.  This was actually a very good thing.  With the intubation, Lennon was able to get an extra dose of medicine applied directly to her lungs.  While it is a scary scenario and can be terrifying to look at, it was the best thing to happen for Lennon's sake!  I am somewhat relieved that I did not get a chance to see Lennon intubated.  Everything in my logical brain says that is what she needed; everything in my soul says that intubation is bad, scary, and way too closely related to death.  Not what I needed to see!


Within 24 hours, Lennon had graduated from the intubation to the bipap machine.  If you know someone with sleep apnea, you will have some sort of idea of what the bipap machine does.  The machine just helps force air into the lungs.  Lennon just needed help getting the air in, but did not need increased oxygen, which is great!  Lennon responded great with this as evident of her oxygen levels, but she did not like it physically.  She would grab ahold of the face mask and pull it as hard as she could.  It reminds me of my mom fighting with her sleep apnea machine, lol.  

After being on bipap for less than 24 hours, Lennon moved off of the bipap and was on put on a nasal candela.  This is a little less scary.  This is just the little nose prongs that go across your face.  She was on this for just a little while and they took her off.  She has not needed extra oxygen, just a little help to remember to breathe.  

We are at one week today... Lennon has only moved forward with her breathing!  She is now off of all oxygen support.  She is breathing room air and is on caffeine to help stimulate the part of the part of the brain that helps remember when to breathe.  Her brain is still developing at warp speed, so it is only a matter of time before she doesn't need the caffeine anymore.


I have the strongest little girl ever!  I have a feeling those little lungs are going to be very loud very soon.  A sound that I welcome into our house!!