Point for Team Oldroyd!

The other night when the docs started treating John for suspected infection, we asked, "Could it possibly be because of the immunizations he got two days ago? We read apnea could flare up following immunizations". Thats right, we read it in a book which just so happens to be written by a neonatologist. Of course we're not doctors, so they immediately said "No, it wouldn't be from that." Then to make sure we knew we were wrong, they called us back a bit later to say there was bacteria in his urine sample. The following day his nurse also said "I don't think he has an infection, I think it's from his immunizations. His blood work is a bit funny but it shows that his immune system is doing what it should be doing." When I asked her about the bacteria in his urine, she rolled her eyes and said it really didn't indicate anything and that the sample was likely contaminated which is fairly common. She then advocated for us to get him off these heavy duty antibiotics they have him on. They we going to do one more blood test then stop antibiotics.

The blood test the next morning came back "funky", as they put it, and they decided to do one more. After that one came back looking strange too, they decided he must have an infection since the white cell counts were off. They decided to keep him on 7-10 days of antibiotics. Unfortunately they couldnt decide exactly how long they wanted to do them for because they couldn't locate the infection and he has been showing no symptoms. He was actually improving respiratory wise, which doesn't happen with an infection. They decided to do one more blood test the next day.

Well, yesterday they did the test which was still looking strange, and all of his cultures were still negative for infection. The docs sat around baffled during rounds until one piped up "Do you think it's from his immunizations on Friday?" Then they all had a major "Aha!" moment, decided he didn't have an infection after all, stopped his antibiotic treatment, and patted themselves on the back before moving on to the next baby.

I was seriously speechless, and that rarely happens.

Well, baby is doing much better today and just needs to work on feeding before he can go home. It will be at least a week or two, hopefully not much longer. I just need to protect him from the infection-diagnosing-happy docs since every time they treat him for a phantom infection, it sets him back about a week. He can latch, but it takes him a while to do it. He gets really frustrated and wastes a lot of energy trying to wrestle me while I'm trying to get his head and hands in the right places. This boy is still small at 5 lbs 8 oz, but man is he strong! Sometimes it takes both me and the OT to get him under control. He just needs some practice and I just need some patience. He does well once he can relax and focus. Thankfully he has the suck, swallow, and breathe reflex down since thats a big preemie hurdle. He took his first bottle last night and did really well. It also didn't make him want to nurse any less this morning so that's a bonus! In fact I think it helped him, since it teaches the "if I suck, my belly will get full" lesson we desperately need him to learn. John and I are going to stay at the hotel up the road for the weekend so I can be available around the clock to practice. I hope it does the trick!!!

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