Ryker's Neonative Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Stay...

October 18, 2016

Ryker was admitted to the NICU shortly after his birth. He has pulmonary hypoplasia (small lungs), and pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure in the lungs). It was hours until I was able to meet him. I was wheeled in my hospital bed down some halls and into the NICU, to see a little baby who had many wires (iv's, picc line, too much) and a tube down his throat. Ryker took a few turns for the worse and had a pneumothorax (a hole in his lung) and needed chest tubes to help drain the fluid that was collecting. Ryker has seizure like activity and needed an EEG. Fortunately the EEG showed no seizure activity. He made it through it and they were able to remove the chest tubes.

Ryker had many up's and downs while in the NICU. October began cold and flu season... Which, at Children's Hopsital, meant that siblings were only allowed to visit once a week. Cold and flu season lasts until May of the following year. This meant that Torilyn and Jaxsom, Ryker's siblings were only able to visit him once a week... We chose Sunday to be our Family Day's in the NICU.