Today,
the boys would have been 27 weeks along if they were still in my belly. Oh how I wish they were still in my
belly. I know now that for future
pregnancies, I will never EVER complain that I want this baby out of me before
they are actually ready. When I hear
pregnant women complain now that they are ready for this baby to come out and
they are only 6 months along, I want to tell them, “Really? Do you really want your baby to be born this
early? Do you know what a 24 weeker goes through?” Now I know deep down they don’t really mean
it and they are just uncomfortable, but hey sweetie, you signed up for this and
this is what it takes if you want a happy and healthy baby so suck it up for a
few more months. I would have been even
thrilled if they were born at 27 weeks.
The farther along they would have been in utero, the better chance they
would have had in the real world. Now
would that have really made a difference with Colin and Nathan? Who really knows. Thinking of ‘what if’s’ just makes me crazy so
I have to be with Nathan in the Present.
Today was about the same with him. No better but probably a little bit worse. This morning at 6 am, they took more x-rays
and ran some labs. His potassium had
gone down to 6.8. Not a ton, but it was
going down slowly. The x-ray showed that
the spot in his intestines could possibly be Pnuematosis, which is air between
the bowl walls but they aren’t positive.
So they were going to continue to watch it to make sure it doesn’t turn
into something more serious, like NEC.
Molly was his nurse today.
Never had her before. I have to
admit, wasn’t the biggest fan of her at first but she grew on me as time went
on. She said that his weight last night
was 807 grams. He still wasn’t peeing
very much. That 13 diaper really had us
fooled. His diapers since had really
been less than 1. It is still a very
concerning thing. He just needs to PEE
MORE!
Because Nathan has not been urinating as much as he should
be, he has started to get a bit puffy.
Nothing major, but you can see in the picture that he did get a bit
swollen overnight. You can definitely
tell it around the eye area. He is just
getting so many fluids put into him and his body isn’t getting rid of it like
it should. It is nothing severe at this
point, but from seeing him all day every day, it is noticeable. When Emily, one of the Residents, came in for
his noon care to check on him, they noticed a lump on his tummy in the lower
left quadrant. It was a little bit hard
but still soft for the most part. They
ordered another x-ray since that lump had formed since the previous x-ray at 6
am.
I had a hard day today because I was very scared. While we were doing his care at 4 pm, Nathan
was not moving much while he was on his back.
That was one of many things I loved about Nathan was that he was very
active during his care, even when he had a blood infection and what not. We were standing there with Molly and she
didn’t say anything about his lack of activity.
So Kevin and I told her that this was not like him and he was definitely
not feeling well. It was hard to see as
a Mom. If we were not there, Molly would
never know that this was out of character for him. The same thing was true at his 8 pm care once
we came back from dinner. There was
still not a lot of activity and not a lot of urine coming from our sweet boy.
Jean was Nathan’s night nurse. Another brand new nurse that we hadn’t
had. She was very sweet. We had told her that his inactivity wasn’t
normal so she could look out for that in hopes that it would pick up during the
evening. A mom has to be hopeful, right? They decided that day to give him a Bolis. That is just more fluid to help him pee
more. Fingers crossed that it was going
to work. The only positive thing that
Nathan had going for him today was that his oxygen levels were down to around
28%. Once again, I will take any victory
I can get.
 |
| Goodnight! |
After we had tucked Nathan in for the
night, Kevin and I went back to RMH to get some rest. About an hour after we got back, the NICU
called us to tell us that Nathan’s blood pressure was very low. They also said that they were very worried about
his urine output so they were going to give him more blood and another Lasix to
help. Scared was an understatement so I
had cried myself to sleep that night. All
I wanted was my baby to feel better and I knew he wasn’t. It broke my heart. Hopefully this was just a down part in the
rollercoaster that was called the NICU.
I guess we will see. Tomorrow is
another day.
Nathan’s Nightly
Update 12/28/13
Hello!
Today carried different
emotions for Kevin and I. Nathan's Potassium level was down to 6.8 so it
is slowly going down. Hopefully it is even lower next time they test it.
That test was done at 6 am this morning. He was high Sat-ing in the mid
to high 90's with an oxygen level of 28% when I got there this morning around
11. So those things were good.
At his noon care, the new
resident Doctor came in to look at his distended belly. She noticed a bit
of a lump on the lower left quadrant now and his nurse did not see that early
so she ordered another x-ray just to make sure. That x-ray came back
fine. It might have been just the way his diaper was tightened. There is
a little bit of gas inside his bowel and they are watching it very closely to
make sure it doesn't become pnuematosis which is air/gas between the bowel
walls. And pnuematosis can turn INTO NEC which I explained an email or 2
ago. So they are just monitoring it and the blood/gas levels/labs.
He is not peeing as much as
mom and dad and doctors would like. That worries mom and dad because of
what happened with Colin. He is still producing urine but it is very
minimal. So they gave him a saline bolus to hopefully help with that.
They also turned his oscillator settings down because it puts pressure on
the vessels around his heart which causes less blood flow to his heart and the
less blood flow to his heart, the less blood flow to his kidneys. He is
still doing fine on the changed settings. We are hoping for some very wet
diapers!
Another thing that Kevin and I
noticed was that Nathan really wasn't feeling well. Usually when he gets
his care done or he is on his back with his arms free, he moves them a lot!
Today for the 4 pm care and 8 pm care he wasn't moving as much and didn't
really open his eyes that much. Luckily we are there to let the nurses
(who have never seen him before) know that that is not like Nathan. He
has been a very active baby even with the blood infection and what not.
So of course I am scared and cried because I just want my baby to feel
better and there is nothing I can do to help him. The only thing I know
how to do is give him my milk and he isn't even getting that right now.
So I am a little emotional this evening.
We are thinking about
requesting nurses who have cared for him a lot and that we like. Because
if we were not there, his inactivity level probably wouldn't be something the
nurse would know and tell the Doctor about. That way, the nurses can get
to know Nathan and his personality and would know when something just wasn't
right with him.
So hopefully tomorrow after a
good night sleep, he will be feeling better and be pretty active.
Otherwise I might not let Dad go back to work. We continue to pray
for him and asking his brother and his Grandma Kane to watch after him. I
know this journey is going to have it's good days and bad days, but I don't
really do well with the bad days so He needs to just have good days from now
on. That would make mom very happy!
Love,
Kelly, Kevin, and Nathan
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