Turning purple and blue

[mommyof3co]

I've posted before about Preston's NICU stay, but brief story, he was born at 37+3 but was really sick, premature lungs. He was on a vent and needed nitric to get his lungs to open up and start working. For the first 5 days he wasn't getting enough oxygen because his lungs were so tightly closed. After the nitric started working and he was doing much better at 8 days he came off the vent, on a nasal cannula for a day then room air. He came home at 15 days. For the most part he's better, is having kidney problems that we are still having tested.

BUT he is often a purplish tone, he almost always has that veiny look that you would look at a normal baby and think they are just cold but he is NOT cold. It has been insanely hot here, he will still look like that out in the 108 degree heat and he's sweating. It's not a temp thing. But on top of that his feet turned BRIGHT blue one night. And then he has some days where he just seems more purplish...sometimes his lips get purplish, but it doesn't last a long time. Sometimes his feet with turn purple, his nail beds will sometimes look purple. Well I mentioned this to our pedi at his 2mo appt and she totally blew me off saying "his lungs were a newborn issue, he's 2mo now he's fine". She didn't see him in the NICU, she did get a discharge report but she never saw him sick. Plus I don't know if she remembers off the top of her head just how sick he was. The NICU told me that it would be closer to around 2 YEARS for him to be fully healed and "normal"...not 2mo. They also told me that if he gets sick he should be seen right away...she said that isn't the case to let him ride it out unless it gets really bad. Up until this appt I've really liked our dr but that just doesn't seem right to me. He's our 4th child and I've never had a child turning purple on me, never had bright blue feet...that just isn't right. But I'm not really sure what we should do...maybe this is normal for a baby that we know his lungs are still healing? He doesn't seem to be struggling to breath but he does still have periods where he breathes very fast.

Does this sound normal for a baby that had lung issues? Should things like this be happening or does something more need to be done?

 

[inperfected]

I'd suspect it's because he's having low oxygen saturation levels. Are you able to get a saturation monitor (eBay maybe?) and check this? You might need to do a bit of googling though to check best way to do it and that. Or try another doctor possibly?

 

[mommyof3co]

Oh I didn't know you could actually buy them to monitor it? I'm definitely going to look into that then. I'm trying to find a new dr but not many take our insurance plus we don't vaccinate so then tons refuse because of that so it's really hard to find a dr to take them

I forgot to mention the other day I was driving home and he started making this strange noise so I went to pull over then he started gasping and then screaming. By the time I was pulled over and able to look at him he was just screaming and very red but it sounded like he might have stopped breathing for a minute? It has only happened that one time but it was really scary.

Just doesn't seem like normal things to me...

 

[Wantabean]

:wave: hiya
cameron does something similar! i went to my doctor and got refered immediately. he goes really purply/bluey and seems to 'drift' off. he doesnt respond to me etc and frequently gasps for breath. his lips, toes and fingers go really blue. his feet frequently go purple too just at random times of the day im seeing pedi in 6 days so i will def let you know what they say. think you should try get seen again! good luck

xxxxx

 

[inperfected]

Does he have reflux? I know my boy gasps and cries when he refluxes... I'm only going on my experiences in hospital, so might not be right but worth the suggestion at least

 

[Wantabean]

Does he have reflux? I know my boy gasps and cries when he refluxes... I'm only going on my experiences in hospital, so might not be right but worth the suggestion at least

ahhh didnt think about reflux!! cam used to have it really bad but its cleared up and this is different. mommy could be reflux. ask about that!! good idea inperfected!! xxx

 

[mommyof3co]

I actually am almost positive he does have reflux, he is always burping stuff up, most of it he swallows back he doesn't spit up that often, but he makes these awful faces when he does it. Sometimes he'll cry from doing it too. But I hadn't noticed any gasping until the other day in the car, but he was making this strange noise right before maybe it was the reflux? I hadn't even bothered mentioning it to his dr last time because she seemed so rushed and kept brushing me off, I'm almost positive he has it, but it doesn't seem very bad so didn't think he really needed meds for it so I didn't bother bringing it up.