Clothes and CPAP

Eli has done well so far this week. The doctors have been continually weening him off of the ventilator. He also is eating a lot more - he is up to 24 mL of milk! Before heart surgery, he was only getting 6 mL so he has definitely come a long way. He will be 32 weeks old on Monday. The time is really going by quickly. Eli is also big enough to wear clothes. Today he finally hit the 4 pound mark! He's one of the bigger babies in the pod. Thanks...

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Surgery #2

While I held Eli on Wednesday, I got my daily update from the doctor. He seemed concerned that Eli's ventilator stats were continually trending upward. Eli was receiving breathing treatments to help open his lungs for better gas exchange but these treatments were not having much of an effect—Eli's blood gases still contained large amounts of carbon dioxide. The doctor wanted to do another echocardiogram the next day to check on the size of Eli's...

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Admittance

I thought I would go back to the beginning and write about how it all started. The night before I was admitted to the hospital, Tuesday, December 17th, I had a wonderful baby shower! (thank you flower mound ladies!) Little man must have been too excited from seeing all of the cute clothes he was going to wear! Last preggo picture The next morning I woke up feeling wet - not sure if I wet myself or if there was something else going on, but I...

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1 month!

Last week was a stable week for Eli. Although he wasn't making much improvement, he wasn't going backwards either, which everybody was happy about. The doctors have gone up and down on the amount of milk they feed him as well as his ventilator stats to keep him happy. Jason held Eli for the first time last Tuesday. As long as he is stable, we can hold him every day for 1-3 hours. We love our kangaroo time! Eli with Jason, Grandma and...

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29 Weeks Tomorrow

It's crazy to think that Eli will have been in the NICU for three weeks on Wednesday. Time has gone by extremely slow, and has also whizzed by us at the same time.  Good news: 1. His arterial line came out and he's pretty stable, so Emily gets to hold Eli tomorrow! 2. The ophthalmologist checked his eyes for yeast today and found nothing. 3. His blood gases are getting better little by little. 4. They started giving him pedialyte yesterday...

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No News Is Good News

Sorry we haven't written in a few days. Just know that "no news is good news"—most of the time. Eli has been doing well recuperating from his surgery. His ventilator levels go up and down depending on how tired he is. Today his levels went up a little bit, but that's not the end of the world. The trend is good, so if he continues on like this, he will most likely be off the vent in a week or so and back on CPAP. Emily won't be able to hold him...

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Recovery

January 5, 2014 27.6 weeks It has been pretty calm the past 2 days since Eli has had his surgery. He has been on pain medication which has kept him fairly sedated. The doctors told us to expect that he would be more dependent on the ventilator as he recovers. His belly looks a little distended, but it has only increased in size by a few centimeters. They still aren't giving him any food; they will start feeding again when he's a little more...

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Look for the Silver Linings

After hearing about Eli's fungal infection I was a little bit in shock. How could his health change so quickly? I was just holding and snuggling him last night and he seemed so calm and content. I was emotional and overwhelmed by the news. On top of that, my parents (who had been here all week; they drove all the way from Michigan, and we're so grateful that they came!) were leaving this morning so my dad could be back in time for meetings on Monday....

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High White Blood Cell Count

For the past three or four days Eli's white blood cell count has been higher than normal. It hasn't really been worrying the doctors that much because of El's normal disposition. Babies that young don't get fevers, so there are really only two ways to tell whether or not they have an infection: 1.) observe their actions; sick babies usually don't move around very much; 2.) grow a blood culture. Eli has been moving around as much or more than he did while he was in the womb, and the blood culture wasn't showing anything—until today. We got a call...

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Happy New Year

January 2, 2014 27.3 weeks Eli holding Jason's wedding ring. Lots has happened over the past two days. Eli did so well on CPAP! After having the tube out for just a few hours his levels were about the same as they were while he was on the vent. Every few hours the nurses take a blood gas reading. To do this they have to take about .3 ml of blood and put it through a machine. Through this test they measure the levels of carbon dioxide, oxygen,...

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Improvement

We have seen improvement after improvement over the past few days. Eli's jaundice is decreasing, he is being given more food, his blood gases look great—basically all his numbers are improving. Even though he can't see anything yet, he still tries so hard to open his eyes and look at Emily when he hears her voice. His IV was moved from his hand to his foot. He likes to hang his foot over the edge of the bed. He has...

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