Patrick seems to be doing as well as he can be. He does seem more comfortable each day. His belly measured smaller tonight which is great. The surgeon said he is still happy with his results. They are thinking about pulling his drain tomorrow. He is going to have a chest/abdominal x-ray tomorrow to check his progress. He had an ultrasound of his head today, and they said that the brain bleeds are resolving. We are still going to watch them closely though. They did get some culture results. They said that one of the positive results that cam back was a fungus that grows on the skin. So, he thinks that it could be 1. a false positive, or 2. that something on the skin may have touched the culture, and it may not have anything to do with the stomach infection. Either way he is still on the right antibiotics. They can't start feeding him until he has negative cultures for 10 days. As of today he is 1 lb 8 oz. That is the biggest he has even been! I would love to see him continue to grow. He still looks exhausted, but he is still moving around, and seems to be holding strong. We did get to touch him and do a little hands on. Craig was able to take his temp, and change his bedding. The nurse wiped his mouth tonight, and some of the tape that holds his tube in came off. So the respiratory therapist had to come over and replace the tape. He let us take a picture of his face with nothing on it. It looks all red and angry, but it is the first time that we have seen his face. Hopefully he will do well this week because his fave nurse is gone til Monday. She had another talk with him and told him she didn't want any shenanigans this week.
Brady
Brady had a big night too. He got a new incubator. Every two weeks they have a moving day, and they get a fresh, clean incubator. He was supposed to do it tomorrow, but his nurse said we can do it tonight so I could hold him. I love snuggle time with him. We did a diaper change tonight that went well, until he decided that he wanted to flood his new one. He actually had two diapers tonight. His weight was 1 lb 12 oz. I believe. His ultrasound came back saying the bleed was resolving also. His urinary infection is also gone too. They will do repeat cultures to confirm. I asked about his heart murmur tonight. The doctor said they are going to do an echo tomorrow and see what it says. he said that it could be that the PDA reopened, or that it is closing, and the blood is trying hard to go through the small opening. He said that he is not sure that they will do the Indocin again, and that they surgery might be a better option. I am not a fan of surgery, but if it helps his heart, and helps his O2, well it is what it is. Hopefully the echo will come back with good news tomorrow.
Lets hope everyone passes their tests tomorrow! I also want to say thank you to Megan! She brought us some yummy food today, and a little book about parents in the NICU. I made it halfway through the first page before tearing up. It is a great little book, and I can relate to every page in it. My favorite paragraph from the book was this one.
"My dad said something to me right after my son was born that stuck with me throughout every surgery and "procedure"while in the NICU. "All he knows how to do at this point in life is to survive." I thought that was so profound. Think about it: your baby's only experience until birth was surviving in the womb...and mission accomplished. I found comfort in those words that day and I continue to find comfort in them today. Be thankful today for your baby's survival instinct and I pass my dad's wisdom on to you...
"All your baby knows how to do at this point in life is to survive."
I thank god every day that those little boys are fighters, and are completely to stubborn to give up. That is one trait that we both have, and I am very happy that we passed it on to both of them.
On that note, I wish you all a good night. As always, thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I love you all!
Em and Craig
This is great news to wake up to! Still made me cry, but they were happy tears today!! Love you and miss you!!! Mom and Bob
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