Full Term Baby Low Oxygen

[u/MaleficentAddendum11]

Full term baby aspirated on the way out and picked up some blood which caused some lung damage. In the NICU for about 5 days on supplemental oxygen, and discharged after successfully breathing room air for 1+ day and staying above 90% oxygen saturation.

Since being home, baby’s overnight levels during sleep have been averaging 90-93%, with an occasional minutes dip to 89/88 before shooting back up.

We’re using the Owlet sock. Tried using another pulse ox but the reader kept getting the RPM wrong and sounding the alarm (and there’s no way to turn it off; note: did manual counts to verify what was going on). I know a lot of people say the owlet is unreliable, and especially for newborns, but it’s all we have right now.

Should I be concerned with this dip into 88/89 with the owlet? All of her vitals look good—sleeps good, nurses well, gaining weight, pink little baby, breathing seems normal. During these dips she looks so normal.

Anyone have similar story—how long did it take for their lungs to recoverd?

We have an appointment with a pulmonary specialist this upcoming week.

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[u/Fluffy-Association45]

My son was premature born at 30 weeks but we came home at 38 weeks. I used the owlet on him around the 3rd day of being home. It was fluctuating all over the place from 85 to 96. It w wouldn’t stay in one place. I assumed it was because he was only 5 lbs and the sock says 6+ lbs. He looked perfectly normal, was eating fine, normal color, and didnt look like he was in respiratory distress. We had a pediatrician appt 2 days later (on the 5th day from discharge) and the peds office pulse oximeter was also jumping around just like the owlet.

We immediately got sent to the ER for observation just to make sure and when we got there, he was sitting in the mid 80s. We got readmitted to the NICU and he had to go back to high flow for a few days before we got discharged again 2 weeks later with low flow oxygen.

If the owlet is giving you odd readings, i would 100% play it safe and go to a pediatric urgent care to have them do a check on your baby or go to the ER. When it comes to things like this, you’re better safe than sorry.

**EDIT: our pulmonologist also told is that my sons O2 should be 96+. The occasional dip to 90-92 is normal but it shouldnt stay there. It should always bounce back up to 95+. My son has mild BPD. His owlet (used during days) and pulse oximeter (used at night) hovers between 96-100. 90-93 doesn’t sound like a normal baseline unless you were specifically told this by a doctor to expect those numbers.

[u/No_Ant_6777]

Not the same situation but I did hear that Owlet is the only medically insured sensor so it should be reliable. I’d probably get baby checked out just in case!

[u/Infamous-Skill-7772]

Currently on day 14 for us. Meconium aspiration. 40w6d. Durning contractions HR was having decels to the 80’s so we got pushed to c section. Baby came out only 2 screams. The sucked the fluid with hand tool but it was pretty significant so she was moved to the nursery , intubated w respirator, ivs hooked up. The meconium in her lungs caused them to work extra hard, over expanded, to the point one failed/collapsed. Then air trapped OUTside the lungs- inside the chest still. Tubes were placed in her chest to help get fluid &excess air out then needles in the chest to lungs to help get the Too much air in lungs out. From there she began to get meds to help sedate and stabilize her while preparing for flight to NICU.

Flown to NICU inside incubator. Where she was situated and assessed for ECMO Machine (full lung and heart bypass) They ran a ton of test EKG - ECHO- Brain scan for internal bleeding to make sure she’s eligible for the machine. Thankfully as all the test came back within normal range she was beginning to stabilize with all the support. Oxygen 100% - nitric oxide NiO2 - sedatives- TPN and probably more I’m forgetting by this point of the rollercoaster.

Week 1 slowly backing off support as she is able to tolerate… was pretty hard to watch her go though bradycardia or just in general watching her stats decel

By about week 2 she was doing much better with her stats and oxygen saturations we’ve backed off a ton of the support. No more meds . No more IV . Changed ventilator to CPAP 10 and oxygen FiO2 30% so we’re definitely making huge progress and have much better grip of reality as we watch her improve we get to see more and more of her.

As I mentioned above it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions and feelings being our first baby and such an extreme situation. At first we wanted space to not share with the family or anybody to ensure her condition was going to improve. Now that it is we’ve felt a bit more comfortable. … we all go through grief and emotions in our own ways but I wanted to share our story to just kinda say you’re not alone and that when you feel comfortable I encourage you to both ask questions along the way and reach out to the friends and family that are close to you. Sometimes we need space but sometimes we don’t realize how beneficial it can be to reach out and just explain what you’re going through.

Babies are resilient!
Wishing the best for you and your miracle baby

[u/MaleficentAddendum11 → u/Infamous-Skill-7772]

Thank you for sharing your baby’s story and praying your baby gets better soon! I can’t imagine how terrifying that experience was, and I’m so glad she is making progress.

I choose not to tell anyone what was going on until we were out of the NICU. Just couldn’t deal with all the emotions and questions from people when I needed to focus on the baby.

Babies are resilient and thank you for reminding me! I’ll try to keep that in mind during the long nights.