Our Sat Chat

For those of you without experience with respiratory issues in the NICU (which, I hope, is the vast majority of our blog readers) - feeding is not as simple as it may seem. When Nancy nurses Noah, I keep an eye on his oxygen saturation monitor - which for Noah is normally in the 80s and low 90s (but ideally will be in the 98-100 range before he comes home).

Thus - I have to bring a little levity to the situation... so I have assigned significant historic moments (by year) to various sat levels, which I report to Nancy as she nurses. It either makes her laugh or groan - but it takes the tension out of some potentially worrisome moments.

For example:
A saturation rate of 86 - I would say "Year of the Cards' last NCAA men's basketball championship"

88 - Danny and the miracles (if you don't know what this means, don't tell Nancy!)

91 - the birth of grunge (we enjoyed an amazing Pearl Jam concert the Sunday before Noah's birth)

92 - the year I graduated from high school (Nancy, perhaps due to sleep deprivation, forgot my grad year and panicked that Noah's sat rate had fallen to the 70s.)

Despite the fact that Noah is still in the NICU, he is getting an early lesson in Dad's unique (Nancy would say annoying) sense of humor.