an update

We got our first phone call from the NICU on Wednesday night at 7:30pm telling us they were going to re-intubate him. I kept my composure long enough to get off the phone before I started crying. I had been working on a few things from work to keep myself distracted that I wasn't there, but then when I got a call I couldn't focus on anything anymore. I gave myself 5 minutes to cry then reminded myself that crying wasn't going to change anything and it wasn't going to help him. I talked to a friend for a while about her experience when her son was in the NICU after being born early. It made me feel so much better and prepared for the following morning.

The good news is, I misunderstood what they meant when they told me they re-intubated him. I assumed that meant they put him back on the oscillating ventilator that makes his whole body shake.  This is not the case and it meant that he has a breathing tube down his throat instead of the nasal cannula. Things are still looking good otherwise. I was able to really hold him for about 40 minutes of heaven. They have to keep piling heated blankets on him so his body temperature didn't drop too low and eventually I could barely see his sweet face, but he was warm and in my arms so I didn't care.

Friday was a full day of errands I had to run so I didn't spend the whole day in the NICU, It was nice to still be able to see him, and he seems to be doing fine. They are concerned about his CO2 levels still and he has a minor air leak which is why his CO2 levels are high. At this point they are not going to do anything except watch it carefully.

Saturday we brought E to the hospital, and we took turns so we could each spend time with our Max. We showed her pictures and she was obsessed with the sticker he has on his head. The sticker is a result of  PDA  or Patent Ductus Arteriosus, it is very common in preemies. They started a medication that may make it close off so that he won't need surgery, but it may very well still need to be surgically closed if it doesn't begin to close off itself. In the meantime they did an ultrasound of his head checking for blood flow, bleeds, clots, and excess fluid. He did not have any problems with his brain, with the exception of the diastolic flow is a little bit lower than they want it. They assured me it is not a big deal at all. After the ultrasound they put a 'sticker' on his head and his side, these measure his Cranial and Renal flows to make sure the PDA isn't causing problems with his blood flow to those areas. The NICU here does such a great job of making things seem less scary, so instead of a boring sticky censor they used a purple sticker with little blue characters on it. His temperature sensor is a teddy bear, and this other sensors have smile faces on them. Its so nice they think of things like that to make it just the tiniest bit easier, especially when we explain things to E.

Sunday I came up with my Mom and Dad, my Dad took a lot of pictures but Blogger won't let me upload any. I'll keep working on it. This was the first time my Mom has seen him and she told me she wasn't prepared for how small he is. She was able to hold his hand, and they let me hold him again. I love holding him more than words! It was nice that my mom was finally able to come see him, and my dad was able to see him again.