Week 38, Day 4, Pausing for Breath

Hannah had two bradycardia episodes this morning (where she forgets to breathe and heart rate drops to dangerous levels). One was while feeding, which can be caused by mild choking, and is not usually an issue. But the other happened while she was sleeping, which is more of a concern. They don't like for babies to go home without several bradycardia-free days in a row, so this will likely set back the brady clock and push out her go-home date a few days.

When a bradycardia occurs, the monitors detect it and sound an alarm that brings the nurses running. They usually just pat or rub the baby, stimulating them so they will wake up and breathe, and everything returns to normal. Bradycardia is very common in preemies, and babies almost always grow out of it over time. We'll just have to wait and see. It has been 5 days since her last brady, so hopefully this is the last.

When Hannah comes home, she will have a monitor to detect a brady, but that's intended as an extra safety measure; they really don't want to send an infant home unless they are pretty sure she won't brady.