House plans and baby scares
Monday 31st Feb I drove for about an hour and a half to Ste-Agathe-Des-Monte to see the log house people about getting our plans drawn up. Sabrina and Oscar stayed at home. On the way back the driver's side windscreen wiper blade started to flap around and was coming off the wiper arm. Unfortunately, it was raining quite heavily so I had to stop to fix it twice and eventually lash it in place with a boot lace. I passed a Canadian Tire store in St Jerome so I dropped in to get a new wiper blade.
It was only after I had almost got back to Montreal at about 4:30 pm that I realised I had 5 missed calls on my phone from Sabrina. I had left the phone in the car whilst I had been in Canadian Tire, and whilst fitting the new wiper blade. I called Sabrina back and she was in an ambulance heading to the Children's Hospital in Montreal. Oscar had experienced two choking episodes, turning blue, and Sabrina had to give him back blows to clear it.
I can't accurately describe the feeling when I saw our baby son emerge from an ambulance with his car seat strapped to a stretcher, and with an oxygen mask on his face. The weight of responsibility of parenthood suddenly became very real indeed.
Oscar was seen immediately and appeared to be in good health. The hospital staff checked him over but suggested that they keep him over night for observation. After more examinations and blood samples squeezed from his heal, we were taken up to a ward for the night. Oscar was connected to a monitor that measured his heart rate and oxygen saturation levels. Sabrina stayed with Oscar but there was only a fold out bed for one of us to staynowhere for both of us to sleep except for a rocking chair. At about midnight I came home, fed the cats and went to sleep.
The next morning back at the hospital, Oscar had been fine all night with no further episodes. We were looking forward to going home. However, the gastroenterologist wanted to do more tests, this time for acid reflux. We were very disappointed that we had to stay longer but it became apparent that we needed to get Oscar checked out further. That night, Oscar was attached to another machine that measured his breathing, heart rate, and oxygen saturation and made a 24 hour recording. The machine had an alarm which kept going off every time Oscar moved. Eventually, they changed the electrodes and it stayed quiet for most of the time.
The following morning, they fitted Oscar with a ph probe that recorded the acidity levels in his oesophagus over a 24 hour period. The probe was a small tube that was passed up his nose and down his throat, then taped in place. It sounds a lot worse than it actually was and was fitted in a few seconds. Once in place Oscar didn't seem to notice. It was hard seeing him lying there with wires and pipes everywhere, but at least it was all just for monitoring purposes and he was perfectly safe. Oscar was fairly oblivious to everything that was going on, we however were the worried parents. I guess we had better get used to worrying!
The third day in hospital arrived and so did all the results. The upshot of it all was that he is a healthy baby with a case of acid reflux. The reflux can cause a baby to regurgitate and choke. However, it could also be the case that the whole incident was caused by Oscar choking on some mucous. He was prescribed some antacid medicine and we will have to keep a close eye on him and he has to go back for some check ups. So far he seems perfectly fine, with the odd bout of crying for no apparent reason, probably reflux related.
The hospital was very thorough and we couldn't fault all the effort they put in and the time they took to explain everything to us in detail. Thank god Canada has a decent national health service, rather like the UK system but with a better cafeteria and no chavs.
The video was take the day after we all came home. Oscar seems happy enough.
It was only after I had almost got back to Montreal at about 4:30 pm that I realised I had 5 missed calls on my phone from Sabrina. I had left the phone in the car whilst I had been in Canadian Tire, and whilst fitting the new wiper blade. I called Sabrina back and she was in an ambulance heading to the Children's Hospital in Montreal. Oscar had experienced two choking episodes, turning blue, and Sabrina had to give him back blows to clear it.
I can't accurately describe the feeling when I saw our baby son emerge from an ambulance with his car seat strapped to a stretcher, and with an oxygen mask on his face. The weight of responsibility of parenthood suddenly became very real indeed.
Oscar was seen immediately and appeared to be in good health. The hospital staff checked him over but suggested that they keep him over night for observation. After more examinations and blood samples squeezed from his heal, we were taken up to a ward for the night. Oscar was connected to a monitor that measured his heart rate and oxygen saturation levels. Sabrina stayed with Oscar but there was only a fold out bed for one of us to staynowhere for both of us to sleep except for a rocking chair. At about midnight I came home, fed the cats and went to sleep.
The next morning back at the hospital, Oscar had been fine all night with no further episodes. We were looking forward to going home. However, the gastroenterologist wanted to do more tests, this time for acid reflux. We were very disappointed that we had to stay longer but it became apparent that we needed to get Oscar checked out further. That night, Oscar was attached to another machine that measured his breathing, heart rate, and oxygen saturation and made a 24 hour recording. The machine had an alarm which kept going off every time Oscar moved. Eventually, they changed the electrodes and it stayed quiet for most of the time.
The following morning, they fitted Oscar with a ph probe that recorded the acidity levels in his oesophagus over a 24 hour period. The probe was a small tube that was passed up his nose and down his throat, then taped in place. It sounds a lot worse than it actually was and was fitted in a few seconds. Once in place Oscar didn't seem to notice. It was hard seeing him lying there with wires and pipes everywhere, but at least it was all just for monitoring purposes and he was perfectly safe. Oscar was fairly oblivious to everything that was going on, we however were the worried parents. I guess we had better get used to worrying!
The third day in hospital arrived and so did all the results. The upshot of it all was that he is a healthy baby with a case of acid reflux. The reflux can cause a baby to regurgitate and choke. However, it could also be the case that the whole incident was caused by Oscar choking on some mucous. He was prescribed some antacid medicine and we will have to keep a close eye on him and he has to go back for some check ups. So far he seems perfectly fine, with the odd bout of crying for no apparent reason, probably reflux related.
The hospital was very thorough and we couldn't fault all the effort they put in and the time they took to explain everything to us in detail. Thank god Canada has a decent national health service, rather like the UK system but with a better cafeteria and no chavs.
The video was take the day after we all came home. Oscar seems happy enough.
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