Apnea & Bradycardia

As of last night, Elise was back to breathing entirely on her own. And she seems to be doing fairly well with it. She was also up to 3 pounds, 9.6 ounces and seems to be bigger and bigger all the time. Her nurse today gave us some paperwork on apnea and bradycardia, the two problems Ellie's been having. Here's some of the information for those who are interested...

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Apnea: When breathing stops for more than 20 seconds.

Bradycardia: A heart rate of less than 100 in a premature baby & 80 in a full term infant.

Pathologic Apnea: A breathing pause is abnormal if it is prolonged (at least 20 seconds) or combined with cyanosis (bluish color), pasty appearance, listlessness, or bradycardia.

Apnea of Prematurity: Periodic breathing with pathologic apnea in a premature infant. This usually resolves by the time the infact is 34-26 weeks gestational age.

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I'll post more from the handout later, including the two main reasons for and the monitoring/management of apnea of prematurity.