Induced Hypothermia - No Fun!

At this point, Eddie is quickly started with his induced hypothermia. He was placed on a cooling mat, or hypothermia blanket, completely naked and had a cooling mechanism above him. He was cold, full of tubes and naked. It was so hard to see. I wanted to hug him, cover him up....anything! But he had experienced some seizures, and we were instructed to do no more than hold his hand. The doctors did not want us to stimulate him. It was EXTREMELY hard. But we hoped it would have a good outcome for Eddie. The hope is that Induced Hypothermia will reduce or prevent brain damage, which, in our case was made a possibility due to the hypoxia Eddie experienced at birth. He was cooled down for 72 hours and then slowly warmed. The 72 hours seemed to drag on and on and he looked so cold. I wanted to warm him up and hug him. We had to watch our baby just lay there and receive no love. I tried to just be there and talk to him so he would know he had a lot of love waiting for him. My poor baby. That was the longest 3 days I have ever experienced. I wanted him to be warm and comfortable.