A picture of our happy girl taken last weekLast night at about 8:30pm Audrey stopped breathing, turned blue, and went completely limp. I had just fed her and was administering her evening breathing treatment when her eyes started to close and she started getting really dusky. In a matter of seconds she was nearly incoherent and very blue so I yanked her out of her highchair and handed her to Robert. He promptly began CPR (which we had thankfully learned at the NICU) and got her breathing again while I called 911. Audrey was blue and limp for about 4 minutes until the paramedics arrived and began giving her oxygen. The oxygen helped significantly but she remained very pale and when the oxygen was removed her O2 saturation levels dropped again. So after getting her stabilized I carried her out to the ambulance and rode with her to the ER while Robert followed behind in our car. Thankfully, our cousins were in town from Arizona and my Dad and Terri were over for dinner so we were able to leave the other two babies with them while we accompanied Audrey to St. Charles. Once we got in the ambulance Audrey seemed to improve considerably and was being her usual happy, smiley self (I caught her flirting with several of the paramedics:)) and by the time we got to the ER she was as chipper as ever - and extremely curious about her bright, new surroundings. Robert met us in the ER where we stayed with her under observation for about an hour. Chest and neck x-rays were taken but everything looked normal. The on-call pediatrician (who happened to be present at the babies' birth) evaluated her and decided to keep her over night for continued observation. Audrey has been having difficulty breathing ever since October (when she was first hospitalized for her wheezing and strider) but even though every breath seems to take so much effort and energy, she has never lost her pink rosy coloring or stopped breathing (and happens to be the most active and energetic of the three babies). The doctors wanted to put her under anesthesia and scope her airway back in October but decided it was okay to delay the procedure as long as she was eating well and wasn't having any other complications. Last night's events, however, have changed the situation and now the doctors feel it necessary to have her scoped. The procedure is very risky and may only confirm what they already think it is (a narrowing in her airway that will hopefully grow as she grows), but may reveal some other problem that may have caused her to stop breathing. Her wonderful NICU doctor came by and talked with Robert and may be present during the procedures tomorrow (which is extremely comforting to us). The plan is to do a CT scan first (which will probably require anesthesia to keep her still) and if they can see what they need to see, a scope may not be necessary; if they are unable to see anything they will take her to the OR and do the surgery while she is already under anesthesia. Unfortunately, intubation and anesthesia in premature babies with breathing problems is extremely risky and may require an extended recovery time to wean her back off of oxygen. Please pray for protection over our little girl and that these risky procedures will at least give us some answers as to why she has been struggling so hard to breathe.
