NICU

Ready to go home

Parker's 1st car ride

Shortly after Parker was born he started breathing strangely. I called the nurse into our room to ask if it was normal and she said no and had a pediatrician come to check him out. Once she listened to his lungs she asked to take him to the NICU for a chest xray and some other testing. Little did we know he would be staying there for 3 days. This was SO hard for Jeremy and I. Never did we think we would go home without our baby when he was born full term and seem completely healthy at birth. I was devastated that I could not breastfeed right away and that we could not hold and love him as much as we wanted. I have not cried that much in a VERY long time. After running all the tests we found out Parker had TTN (Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn).

TTN, also called "wet lungs" or type II respiratory distress syndrome, usually can be diagnosed in the hours after birth. About 1% of all newborns develop TTN, which usually eases after a few days with treatment. Babies born with TTN need special monitoring and treatment while in the hospital, but afterwards most make a full recovery, with no lasting effect on growth and development.
In infants with TTN, extra fluid in the lungs remains or the fluid is cleared too slowly. So it is more difficult for the baby to inhale oxygen properly, and the baby breathes faster and harder to get enough oxygen into the lungs.

The NICU staff was amazing and we were more than thrilled to bring Parker home on Friday. He is now doing well you would never know it happened.