So I Spoke Too Soon This Morning...

So right after I posted this morning, the lil guy started having more and more periods where he wasn't breathing. The PA order some labs to be drawn and it turns out Eli has an infection going on. They sent blood cultures right away but we haven't gotten the results yet. However he was started on two antibiotics, they took an X-ray of his belly which some times is where the infection comes from but that was negative. The echo of his heart is unofficially negative. The little guy is working so hard to fight off the infection that he's not breathing, for awhile someone had to be with him at all times rubbing his back to stimulate him to breathe. They have him on a CPAP that delivers breaths without having to intubate. So far he's doing well on that, letting the machine take over while he fights the infection. Poor lil man, he's wiped. The treatment team is phenomenal. He basically had a nurse and PA in with him all day. The nurse was so good, she kept saying something isn't right and had the PA order all the tests and voila we have a problem. The doc has been in and out all day as well. Tonight the nurse that has him, only has him for a patient. So keep praying for our lil guy. It's pretty scary stuff but God's got a plan for Eli. As Jon reminded me, we were told we were gonna have good days and bad days in the NICU. Soon it'll be a good day. No pics today, you wouldn't like to have your picture taken when you were sick would you? 

Good Morning!

Sorry, I was a slacker last night. I was exhausted plus I had my first ever skin to skin with the baby, it was amazing to finally get to really cuddle with him :) :) :) So let's see. First off the brain scan is officially negative, doc says everything looks good. Yesterday he had more episodes of desaturations. He's doing this thing called periodic breathing where he'll take a few breaths and then stop completely and start back up again. Totally normal for a lil guy like this but still scary especially one episode where he started to turn...well let's just call it not very pink. But this morning his breathing is a lot more regular so praise God! The doctor says that with preemies his age the pattern is that they come out not breathing well, they do great for a couple days, then on day 7-8 the breathing isn't as great and takes a dip and it will take a little while to get back where we were. In the NICU we are learning as lot of patience. Digestion wise we are doing a little better. Lil man pooped on his own last night, no suppository necessary. His aspirates are looking better, no funky green color. We are upping the feelings to 3ccs every 3 hours. The doc told me that I need to remind him when he's a 200 lb football player eating us out of house and home that when he started his feedings he was getting 1/5 of a teaspoon every 6 hours. The doc got the central line in yesterday and the UV line came out. So now I can do skin to skin with him.  He has an echocardiogram on the schedule for later today, he has a heart murmur that's starting to get louder that they want to investigate. Most likely it's a PDA, something that should resolve on its own but we want to make sure. That's it for right now. Will update you later

One Week Old

So Eli had to go back on the CPAP this morning. His O2 saturation was dipping into the the low 80's too often and was having periods of time where he required stimulation from the nurse to get him to start breathing properly again. So once he got back on the CPAP the number of episodes he had went wayyy down. He spent all day basically sleeping. The amount of work he had to do breathing on his own took a lot out of him.  He is definitely more alert and spunky than yesterday, they say he should be back to his spunky self in a day or two. What they are probably going to do is cycle him between the CPAP and the nasal canula. So start by spending most of the time on the CPAP with a few hours of the nasal canula. They also tried to start a central line today. He still has the umbilical venous (UV) line in but this is a risk for infection. They want to have all umbilical lines out by day 10 at the latest. Because Eli is still on TPN for his nutrition, the central line needs to be put in before they can take the umbilical line out. They tried today but his vein collapsed during the procedure and the policy is one try per day, as too not agitate the baby too much. Hopefully we can get that placed tomorrow because as soon as that is in and the UV is out we can do skin to skin contact and can hold him longer. Though he got an hour cuddle time with each of us today so that's pretty good. Digestion is still up and down, so we'll see what tomorrow brings. He's spending the night with Omie tonight. The census is really low in the NICU right now so the nurse he has only has him for a patient. Talk about getting great care!  Jon's back to work tomorrow.  Thanks for all your prayers and keep praying for our lil guy!  Here's some pics, I might be biased but he's pretty much the cutest thing ever....How blessed are we :)

Friday Update

It's been a longggg, stressful day. I'm not even going to lie about it. Overall baby is fine. He had his head ultrasound done at noon. Unofficially, there aren't any bleeds, the tech said she didn't see anything, he looked great. We were listening her to teach her student and she was pointing out places where they would see bleeding if it was there but there wasn't any. We still haven't had official word from the Doctor yet but we're optimistic. PRAISE THE LORD for that!!! They have titrated his high flow nasal canula down from 8 to 6. So he's taking over a lot more work of breathing on his own. This has caused him to be very sleepy all day, he's basically putting all his energy into breathing. We have barely heard a peep out of him all day and he doesn't put as much of a fight as normal. Hopefully he's just tired out from the breathing and the last couple of feisty days he had and not that he is coming down with something, as lethargy is a sign an infection might be coming on. Also with the lowering of the high flow nasal canula he has more episodes where his heart rate and oxygen saturation drop. It happens for just a few seconds and he corrects himself right away without needing any external stimulation. This is pretty normal for what happens when they titrate him down but still pretty terrifying each time it happens and the monitor goes off. I've been a mess all day. As far as digestion, its still not where we want it to be. He has good bowel sounds and has smears of poop when we change his diaper but they are still pulling up nearly all of the milk that he was given in the previous feeding. Not as much good news to report today but he's fine, hes not doing anything that they aren't expecting him to do. The doc says that he's textbook for his age and he doesn't have any bleeding in his brain and I got to snuggle with him for 2 hours. So we'll take it :) God is taking care of us there's no doubt.
Oma left today :(  So glad she got to be here for this, she's been taking such good care of us. Eli is going to miss her sooo much. Zach stopped by to drop off a hat his mom, Lisa made for Eli. It's so cute, I can't wait to get it on him. Jon's parents were supposed to come down tonight but his mom is not feeling well so they both aren't able to come. Pray that she feels better soon and that his dad doesnt get sick too as it has to be incredibly frustrating not being able to get down here. Omie and Grandpa will be back tomorrow. Daddy is at home sleeping in his own bed for the first time in a week, he's exhausted and needs the rest, he has to go back to work on Sunday. Ok now for the important part...the pictures... will get more with the good camera tomorrow!

Please keep praying!!

thanks Lisa!

Thursday

We've had another great day! Eli's feeding are still up and down. However, before the last feeding, the nurse aspirated 0.6 ccs out of his belly, it wasn't green and was the least that he had all day. We were very happy with this. He also pooped twice today, just ask his daddy who changed the dirty diapers! The nurse says if he keeps it up then they will up his feedings tomorrow. He is doing great on the high flow nasal canula. His vitals have been fine since he has been on it. He now has that huge head gear thing off him and isn't under the phototherapy anymore. So we get to see his cute lil face and big eyes a lot more seeing as he doesn't have to wear his sunglasses anymore either. I got to hold him for 2 hours today, it was amazing. My midwife came to check on me today. I can't say enough how amazing the midwives have been, especially Vanessa who delivered Eli.
The lil guy is still pretty feisty. He managed to pull out his OG tube right out of his mouth. He didn't just yank it right out apparently he wrapped it up around his shoulder and then started to pull. We know that's how he did it because the nurse watched him try to do it for a second time. He's definitely got a lot of spunk, kicks his legs around a lot and has the cutest little angry cry. He loves to sleep with his hands on his face fingers in his mouth. He'll be sucking his thumb in no time

So thankful for all the love and support that we have. Mom and Oma have been running around like crazy cooking, cleaning, laundrying, just taking such good care of us. Jons parents are coming tomorrow. Matt n Michelle from church stopped by for a visit today and Parker was here yesterday. Again we so appreciate everyone's love, support, and especially prayers. I'm exhausted this is all over the place time for bed! Goodnight!

Quick Update/ Plan for theDay

So Eli's digestion is good sometimes, sometimes they are still pulling up some yucky green stuff (very technical term, I know) Doc thinks it might be he doesn't have enough room in his intestines because he needs to poop, so he's going to get a suppository. We're going to keep his feeding where they were yesterday to see if we can just get his GI system going, they don't want to advance the feedings too quickly as this may cause more of a problem for him. The big thing that's about to happen is we are going to try to switch to a high flow nasal canula. So the whole head piece he has now is going to come off. Pray that he tolerates this, please!!! Also, he is coming off the photo therapy as his billirubin levels are at 1.5. Jon's favorite word right now is billirubin. Doc's say that its typical for him to need to go back under the lights again in a few days, but for right now he's good and they want to see how he does without them. Right now hes sleeping on his belly. Jon and I are just hanging out waiting for noon, which is the next time we are able to touch him. He is allowed to be touched every three hours because they don't want to overstimulate him. And if all goes well, 2pm will be cuddle time! Here's a few pics I took this morning of him snoozing.

Today's Update

We were blessed with another great day! God is good! Eli's feeding have been upped to 2ccs every three hours. The feeding have been up and down. Sometimes he digests most of his food, sometimes he doesn't. We are told that this is normal and may just be that he has to poop. He has good bowel sounds and his stomach isn't distended so we are pretty optimistic. But please pray especially for that. He's doing very well with his breathing and is tolerating being off the CPAP just for care with no problem. Eli has been pretty feisty and active all day. He lets us know when he is not a happy camper with his strong cry and angry faces! He was put on his belly and managed to roll himself onto his side. Still sucking on the binky very strongly. Big highlight of the day was that Daddy got to hold him for the first time today. So he spent about an hour and a half in our arms. He also had his umbilical arterial line removed today, that's one less line in and possible area for infection. Over then next few days they will also remove the umbilical venous line and then put in a central line. Once this happens we can start skin to skin! On Friday they will do a brain scan to check for bleeding. Ok time to pump then bed for this mama..I'm exhausted! Will try to check in earlier tomorrow. Please keep praying for our lil guy!