Anyone had an infant at altitude who needed oxygen?

[GilpinGuy]

Man, what a stressful week. Wife has high blood pressure on Thursday so the docs decide it's best to induce the delivery of my first child almost 3 weeks early. New baby comes about 30 freaking hours later (!) and is totally healthy and beautiful - cool!

Wife gets SUPER high blood pressure after the birth and has to stay in the hospital until this evening (7 days at the hospital). Otherwise wife is fine. Now my wife is on blood pressure meds and we have to monitor her BP several times a day until she stabilizes, which docs say 2 weeks or less. OK, not the end of the world but the doc told me that we were in "stroke territory" when her BP was crazy high at the hospital.

Then, as a precaution, we had to bring home an oxygen canister hooked up to the baby because we live at almost 9000 feet. The oxygen company sent out a tech to test new baby's blood oxygen levels at 9:00PM (impressive service there).

Tech says the baby is "borderline" meaning that we need to keep her on oxygen until the docs say she's ok to go without. Wife freaks. I tell her that the docs at the hospital told us that "many" infants need to be on mild oxygen from a few days to a few weeks. She won't hear it and is stressed.

Anyone experience this stuff with the oxygen at altitude with infants?

And thanks again for everyone's support. So cool.

[Great-Kazoo]

Not unusual at altitude, even at sea level docs sometimes kept newbies in incubators for a few days after delivery. We needed to keep our daughter in hospital 3 days after a healthy delivery. 29 yrs later she is still a PITA
Upside is she is someone elses PITA

[lead_magnet]

I had one that needed to be on O2 for a few weeks. Healthy as an ox now, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[Mazin]

Its cool man she will be fine, remember we all get winded @ altitude and this is the first time she has ever experienced it.
BTW congrats again, you guys just relax and enjoy your newest member!
I will keep her and your family in my prayers!

[Big Wall]

Sounds like she will be fine. Remember that your Momma and Pappa bear protection genes just got turned on. Kids are tough they can hack it, they just need a little help sometimes.

[kwando]

3 weeks early is still early... It is prob a precautionary measure since the infants lungs are not fully developed yet. Babies are tough little guys, wait till their first fall/illness/etc... No matter what they go through they just want to play and smile for momma and poppa!!

You need to calm your wife down so she can lower her BP.

[Tim K]

Not an issue. It will be fine in a few weeks. So, what flavor did you get? Blue or pink?

[Herman]

Congrats on the kiddo, My wife and I laugh at all the crazy things we worried about. Kids are tuff. I remember staying up staring at the sleeping baby to make sure they were still breathing. The worst so far for me was when they start eating, I was always so afraid they would choke on something. Have fun, it goes to quick and kiss a good nights sleep goodbye for a few years.

[Cman]

Nothing unusual in needing o2. Our son was 6 weeks premature and had to have O2. Hve fun, dont worry and sleep when you can. Kids are experts at keeping parents awake at night.

[birddog]

We live at 8900 and ours is 9 weeks old today. Our pediatrician told us that babies will drop to their lowest O2 levels right around 2 weeks old. We had Apria healthcare come out and leave a SpO2 monitor at the house for an overnight study. It would record her O2 levels continually. Once we were able to see what her levels did for 12 hours we knew we didn't need it. I have a couple buddies that live in Leadville ~10,000 and they have had both experiences.

I would say if in doubt go for it, then you won't have to stress although the O2 stuff is a PITA. If you can get a monitor then you will know definitively. Let me know if you need a pediatrician too, we found a pretty good place in Denver West so it's a pretty easy trip from the hills.

Also, we were full term (came on our due date exactly) so I'm sure that played a part. Good luck with her.