My teeny little super guy is a whole week old today, though it feels like he's been here for an eternity! Each day has been the best and worst day of my life at the exact same time. We're just trying to take it one day at a time, and find little reasons to celebrate to keep us going. Making it one week is a huge reason to celebrate.
The lab work on his last culture came back showing that there is some kind of infection in his blood, though it appears to not be in his bowels so far (thank god!). They have had him on antibiotics for almost 2 days now and he should start responding soon, though I'd like to think he's already responding. His oxygen levels are lowering, which is a good sign, and his xrays are coming back without any bowel issues. They don't think he's developing NEC so far, and that he's just not pooping because he's sick. They've taken another culture to double check the infection, and hopefully we see improvement in that in the next day. His feedings are still halted, but they hope to start them up slowly again in the next few days. In the meantime, he's getting nutrients and electrolytes through an IV. The mixture is a bit funny and gives him high blood sugar, but this happened when he was on IV right after he was born. They just have to get the sugar mixture just right again and he should be fine. Diabetes runs rampant in my family, but the neonatal endicrinologist doesn't think that is an issue here, and that his little system is just so young. His hematocrit (red blood cells) levels are low this morning, which is normal for preemies, so they're giving him a transfusion to make him feel better. They're pulling him off minimum stimulation in the next day or two, which is a good sign, and he may be graduating to room 2 of the NICU pretty soon. He also had his first brain ultrasound this morning to check for bleeding, and that came back normal. So, all in all he's doing great except for this blasted infection. I've been panicking for the last 2 days since I found out about the possible infection, and am starting to feel a little better, but it's still going to be scary until I get the word that he's clear.
John and I are doing really good, all things considered. We're both starting to work again today, which hopefully helps the days seem more normal. It's really hard to not be able to be with Little John whenever we want, but we just need him to sleep and heal and grow, and have to take care of ourselves in the process. I'm physically feeling good, and am off the painkillers other than Ibuprofin. I absolutely hate the way percocet makes me feel! My blood pressure still spikes up every now and then (which I have medication for), and I'm still seeing auras from time to time, but the doctor told me I don't appear to have any serious tissue damage so far. It will just take a few months for my body to fully recover from preeclampsia. At least my cankles are going down, it seriously looked like someone Nancy Kerriganed my feet the day I got home from the hospital!
Well, I'm off to finish up some work and will be getting back to the hopsital to change his diaper at 2:00. Then I get to spend the afternoon with my other 2 kiddos, who I haven't seen outside of hospital visits in over a week. They're worried sick about their brother and have a lot of anxiety over whether he'll make it or not. It breaks my heart that these two little kids have to deal with something so heavy, though I know they'll rebound much faster than I will should anything happen. I hope I can calm them down with the results of today and that we can just spend a happy night together, celebrating their brother's one-week birthday!
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