Isaac's first airplane ride

We had 2 blissful days at home with all our babies. On Friday, Isaac started to have some respiratory distress so I took him in to the ER. They took great care of him here in Chester and got him on some oxygen. But they are obviously not set up for neonates so we took the evening flight to Great Falls and he is back in his cozy NICU bed. You probably didn't even know Chester had a direct flight to Great Falls. Poor little Isaac didn't even enjoy it-he screamed the whole way. He is negative for RSV (respiratory syncitial virus) and the regular flu. Test for H1N1 (swine flu) has to go to state lab and won't be back until at least Monday. So he will be in for at least a few days until those results are back. He is very stable with the oxygen and doesn't act sick. Dr. Duritz is on this week and he was the neonatologist who was there when the twins were born. He has twin grandsons himself so he told us that ours are the 2nd best looking twins he has ever seen:) This morning Dr. Duritz talked with us about Isaac's chest x-ray. It shows diffuse infiltrates (little patches of white on the lungs where a normal x-ray shows dark). He said if the baby has no other symptoms the x-ray would be considered insignificant. But since Isaac is seeming to need continuous oxygen the x-ray indicates bronchopulmonary dysplasia. His lungs are a little inflamed and irritable. The upshot is that he will come home on oxygen and be on it until he outgrows this. There will always be some dysplasia but as the lungs grow, the new tissue is healthy and eventually the diseased portion is a small percentage of the entire lung. One of Dr. Duritz's twin grandsons had the same issue as a neonate. He was home on oxygen for 6 months, and is now doing fine, playing sports, hiking in the mountains, etc. So he will outgrow this and for now just needs some "vitamin O" (oxygen:). It could be for a couple weeks to a few months. We feel so thankful for all that is available to us medically to help our little son:) We will also have to be careful at home to not use scented products or burn candles as these are all irritating to sensitive lungs. They emphasized the need to continue to keep our visitors to a bare minimum (we are allowing grandparents only at this time). He weighed in last night at 5# 11oz. Lance's parents and my Dad were both in Great Falls on other business but were able to stop by the hospital and offer their support so that was nice. Lance and I visited again this morning and fed our little man. He is doing very well on his oxygen. The NICU will move to their new unit in the new tower on Monday so he gets a new cushy room at the resort. His nurse gave us a quick tour and it is beautiful and state of the art. Lance and I came home to the other two boys and we all took a NAP:) Mom went back home for the rest of the weekend. I did take some pictures of the 3 boys so will get them on here soon but wanted to update while I had a few minutes. Ivan is awake now so those few minutes are up:)