Life in the NICU - Week Two
April 9 - April 15, 2000

4/9/00 10:30 PM

Arran had a relatively quiet day today. He spent most of the day sleeping under the lights, however today was a big day for Mommy and Daddy. Mommy got to hold Arran for the first time and we got to take part in some of his care today. This was important to us because it made us feel like we were doing something to help him. His blood pressure medicine only had to be administered to him twice today (8:30 am and 8:30 pm) this is great news because he was receiving it much more frequently. This evening when we spoke with the nurse she said that he is now out from under the lights and is enjoying some freedom because his little "baby sunglasses" were removed. He really didn't like them and he tried to pull them off as often as he could. His heart doctor came in to see him today and did an ultrasound on his heart. He thinks that the ductus in his heart is closing up properly. The next 72 hours will determine if he will need surgery. The Dr. said that he really didn't think that it would be necessary. So hopefully that will be one specialist that we can check off of the list. All in all he had a great day. Tomorrow will be a busy one for him because he will more than likely be seen by all of his doctors at some point during the day.

Today Arran had his CPAP unit removed and he is breathing totally on his own. He was placed under an oxygen tent that continually supplies a mist in order to keep his nasal passage moist. Since he had the unit removed though we finally got to see his entire face. It was nice to get to see him. Today he also got to see his big brother Patrick for the first time. Patrick also got to hold him, with the help of Daddy. Arran hasn't required any medicine for his blood pressure since last night at 8:30 PM, this is great news. The nurse dressed him today and he doesn't need to be under the warmer any longer. He was also weighed this evening and he weighs an even 5 pounds. He was given his first taste of food today via a feeding tube and he managed that well. All in all things went really well for him today.

Arran had a relaxing day today. He doesn't seem to be getting upset as easily now that his tubes are out. He hasn't needed his blood pressure medicine since Sunday. His kidneys still aren't working at 100% capacity however they aren't getting any worse so they have decided to monitor them less frequently. This means less blood work and the possibility of him getting his feet casted soon. The sooner they can start the casting the better, they were holding out on this so far because they needed to take blood and they take it from a baby's heel. They also increased his food intake from 5 ml to 10 ml. I just got off the phone with the nurse and she said that they were going to try to up his food intake to 15 ml at his midnight feeding (15 ml is about 1/2 an ounce). She also said that there was a little bit of old blood in his stomach and this was more than likely due to the ventilator tube. Today Mommy got a chance to hold him for a little more than an hour and he was wide awake the whole time. He has the darkest blue eyes. The pediatric cardiologist was in today and did an echogram on his heart. He said that the ductus that runs between the aortic arch and another artery has completely closed up with no complications. There was concern that since Arrans ductus was so large that when it closed there would be clots. Its closed and there were no complications. All in all great news.

Arran had a busy day today. His Mommy, Daddy, Gram, Big Brother Patrick, Nanna, and Pap all got to hold him today. He tried to eat with a bottle today at noon and three. He is still having some problems breathing, sucking and swallowing all at once. We have to remind him to breathe while he's eating. At his 6pm and 9pm feeding they put the tube back in to give him a break. Tomorrow we will try to bottle feed again. Other than that things were quiet. He had a good day and he loves to be held and rocked.

We just got home from visiting Arran today. Unfortunately we don't have good news. Last night in the middle of the night Arran developed a fever. They watched him closely through the night and they believe that he has an infection. His white blood cell count was elevated and he had some other signs that point toward infection. Today they drew blood, spinal fluid, and urine and they are testing all three to see if he really does have an infection. They started him on some antibiotics in the mean time. They are considering putting in a second IV line to pump in the antibiotics. His breathing is also a little on the funny side today so they placed him back in the oxygen mist hood. Since he has a fever they placed him back on the warmer bed. The only good news that we have is that he seems to still be digesting his food properly. They are still feeding him with the tube because of his breathing problems. I will update this later this evening if we hear anything new.

We just got off of the phone with Arran's nurse. She said that the first urine sample that they took was contaminated and they had to take a second one. Arran was not happy about this. His temperature was down this evening and they will continue to closely monitor it throughout the night. He weighs 5 pounds and 2 ounces as of this evening. He has spent the evening  testing and behaving himself.

 

Arran spent the day under the oxygen mist hood. He seems to be a little more active and restless than he was yesterday. His color looks better and we think that the antibiotics are doing the trick. The nurse told us that they found an elevated white blood cell count in his spinal fluid and that the infection may be there. We won't know for sure until the bacteria are cultured and that will take a day or two. Right now they are trying to make him comfortable and they are letting him rest. We will go and visit him again tomorrow and hopefully have a good report.

Things have started to look up again for the young lad. They have taken him off of the Oxygen and he is now just getting a mist of water to keep him moist. They restarted feeding him through a tube today and he seems to be digesting all of it. He is still on antibiotics but they are pretty certain that the medication is working. We think it is just because he looked much more chipper today. He was a little more pink than he has been the past few days and more alert. They don't want to start casting his legs until he is done with his medicine but they are going to get little splints for his legs in the mean time.
There are no pictures today because his IV is in his head: Do Not panic, this is (supposedly) normal with babies because their veins are so small and it is tough to keep an IV open. However, it does not make him very photogenic so when that tube gets moved; we'll have more pictures. Sorry.