
Lorenzo was transferred to NICU after birth due to tachypnea (rapid breathing). This is not uncommon amongst newborns, especially caesarian birthed males, and thankfully Lorenzo did not have any other respiratory complications. (likewise Tristan 4 years ago)
However at the six and eighteen hour marks after birth my son was reported with "seizure-like" episodes. No one is certain if he truly he had a seizure at those times or not...but it certainly opened the doors to many more tests...about this time Lorenzo, in addition to tachypnea and possible seizures, was diagnosed with hypotonia. This was a secondary, "non-acute" (i.e., not life threatening) condition and therefore wasn't dealt with. However it has come to play a huge role in our lives now - and a tremendous concern for our lives to come...will it be still, or have faded away?
Nevertheless Lorenzo's breathing improved. He had no recurrence of seizure episodes, and was eating well. So - after six days he was discharged home (with an alarm monitor to warn the entire neighborhood if his heart and/or respiratory rate dropped dangerously low). Six days old, Lorenzo came home....for six whole hours!
That same night I was awoken by a phone call....it was one of the NICU doctors, telling me something about coming back in; blood culture; tested positive for staph....YOU HAVE TO COME BACK TO THE NICU NOW! What? That woke me up....OK, repeat the story....the day before our discharge Lorenzo had a new blood culture done (to go along with all the other tests performed like CT scan, EEG, MRI, Echocardiagram, blood labs, etc.). This most recent blood culture had just turned positive at the lab for staph bacteria growth - meaning there was a chance that he had a staph infection in his bloodstream. This was a risk because Lorenzo had an umbilical IV while in the NICU. Oh, and if the infection as in his blood - he could be dead in 12 hours! So, this is where my sense of control fell apart, i described as been pulled into a massive wave and not been able to catch my breath...
Granted the doctor admitted that the chance of Lorenzo actually having contracted of staph infection was remote, but she didn't want to take that chance. Turns out, the timing was blessed. Soon after our re-admittance to the NICU, Lorenzo's respiratory rate exploded...tachypnea galore!
This is where our dramatic story went through a horrible boring phase....everyday - watching him breath....respirations would go from 50, to 135, 125, 40, 110, 70, 80, 90, 60...and back to 120. Everyday the same - breathing, breathing (the blood culture turned out to be a false positive due to skin contaminant). As we sat there in the NICU watching our son breathe, our minds began to wander and explore other concerns...hypotonia, and moreso, what is the underlying disease/disorder/cause of his hypotonia (and likewise tachyonea, pectus excavatum, etc.). Something nuerological, metabolic, or genetic?