July 11, 2008 afternoon

I was at the hospital from 12:00-1:45 this afternoon. Brandon had a desat (where his oxygen level drops) right when we got there and had a few before we got there. When I talked to his doctor she mentioned that they may put him on a ventilator if it continues. First they decided to turn up his oxygen level to 6. I think that is the highest that they will go with the CPAP and nasal IMV. He was doing really well for awhile and then started to desat several times when we were there. His doctor had someone come to do a chest and stomach x-ray. His stomach looked good but his lungs looked a little hazy. The doctor mentioned trying one more thing for his lungs before going to a ventilator. If he does go on a ventilator it won't be for too long. He also will be able to eat on the ventilator. The goal still seems to be to try to give him milk either tomorrow if things continue to go okay with his stomach or in the next few days. The doctor had the nurse put Brandon on his stomach before we left and that seemed to settle him. Carol, his nurse, also told me that he had his eyes open for awhile. Of course when I was there they were closed the whole time. Brandon has a tube in his mouth. When I asked about it Carol said it was so she could suction him. He also has something on his nose to keep the CPAP from rubbing. When I left I was pretty upset. I went down to leave and realized I forgot a ticket to get out of the hospital so I had to go back to the NICU. When I got off of the elevator I saw Carol waiting to go down. She said she hated to see me leave so upset and gave me a huge hug. She told me that Brandon really was doing remarkably well and that the things that are happening are preemie things, not that Brandon is not doing well. She said that the doctors in the NICU are fantastic. She said to try to stay strong and told me that the best thing that I can continue to do for him is to pump like I have been.

July 11, 2008 morning

I love Brandon's nurse from last night, Sue. I didn't actually meet her but her children have gone through the school district where I teach so she knows of me. She will be working the next two nights so I will actually meet her tonight. I called last night a little after 9:00 to see how Brandon was doing and the first thing she did was congratulate me and tell me she has heard a lot about me. She also told me that Brandon is beautiful. She told me all of his vitals were good and she had just taken blood from him again. After a transfusion they have to take blood every couple of hours to see how he is doing. She hadn't weighed him yet. I told her that I would be calling sometime in the morning between 5:30 and 6:00 and she told me to call every hour if I wanted to. She also said that he was very active and had even opened his eyes a few times. I can't wait to see his eyes. Hopefully he will do that soon when I am there.

I called this morning around 5:15 to see how he was doing and she said he was good. He did wind up needing another transfusion but he reacted well to that. She also said they had found more green stuff in his belly so they did an x ray of his stomach and that everything looked good. She explained to me that the green stuff is normal in preemies born this early because they can't really pass their bowels yet. I asked her about his weight from last night and he lost a little but she said not to focus on his weight right now. It is normal for the fluctuations while he is only on liquids. Once they start giving him some milk he should start putting on some weight. Hopefully they will be able to start in the next couple of days.

July 10, 2008 Evening

Stu and I went to see Brandon when he got home from work. We were there from 4:30-5:45. Everything was good when we were there. He was moving around a bit more than usual which was nice to see. Mark, his nurse, said at one point in the afternoon he almost rolled his body over but forgot to bring his head so he really has to keep an eye on him. Mark took blood from him when we were there. Brandon did not like that one bit. He took it from his heel. Before he did that he put a small heating pad on Brandon's foot. That helps to bring down the blood. Mark taped it on and walked away and Brandon immediately kicked it off. He cried when Mark took the blood from him and then started crying for a few minutes a little afterwards. Mark said that Brandon responded well to the transfusion and to the antibiotic that he was given (he may have an infection from the earlier bleeding episode so they are treating it just incase). Stu has a meeting tonight so we won't be going back until tomorrow. His night nurse tonight is going to be Sue who has children in the district where I teach. When I was visiting earlier I asked when Sue was working next and they told me that night. One of the nurses heard me ask so she switched Sue to Brandon. I am really happy that she will be taking care of him tonight. I will call her later to see how he is doing since I can't get there. I am going to post some video that I took earlier

July 10, 2008 afternoon

I showed up at the hospital around lunch time to see a group of doctors and nurses around Brandon. They would not let me near him since they were working on him. All I was told was that he was bleeding and they led me to a room to wait. How scary! His doctor came in a few minutes later and told me that he was okay. When they were taking out the line from his belly button it caught on a stitch which caused the bleeding. The doctor had to put pressure on his stomach to stop the bleeding which Brandon did not enjoy but the bleeding did stop. I talked to his doctor for awhile after that. She told me that Brandon was going to be getting a blood transfusion since he had lost blood when the stitch started bleeding. He probably would have had one anyway within a few days. She said they were going to hold off on feeding him for a few more days because of what happened. She also said that 26 weekers do well. They have had many in the past as well as ones as young as 23 weeks. She said the first month is usually the hardest since there are many ups and downs but then things really start to pick up. She also said that Brandon will most likely be there until between 38 and 40 weeks. Once preemies leave they continue to track them for two years. They will provide early intervention if things do arise during that time. She said since they are developing they do really well with the intervention and catch up. The green stuff they found in his stomach is not a concern. Most little babies have it.

I wanted to thank Maurita Vecchio for making a blood transfusion this afternoon for Brandon. Her blood type is the same as his so hers will be used the next time that he needs a transfusion. I can't even begin to tell you how much it means to Stu and me.

July 10, 2008 morning update part 3

Sorry for so many updates today so far. I talked to Mark, Brandon's nurse, around 8:30 to see how he was doing. Mark was his nurse the first two days after he was born and I really like him a lot. I feel much better after talking to him. He explained to me that the new thing is a nasal IMV. He told me that he looks no different than he did before. The nasal IMV gives 50 puffs of air a minute to stimulate Brandon to keep him breathing. It is very common for a baby born as early as Brandon to have something like this. He also still has the CPAP. The IMV is not instead of the CPAP. He just has both now. Mark said he was going to have to give Brandon a vitamin a shot today. Mark also said that Brandon is back to being his rambunctious self again since he got the IMV in.

July 10, 2008 morning part 2

I did forget to mention some good news in my last post. Brandon put on some weight! He is not up to 1 pound, 9 ounces. His night nurse said she weighed him 3 times to confirm this since it was a pretty big weight gain.

July 10, 2008 morning

I called the hospital this morning to see how Brandon was doing. His nurse, Mary Jane, told me that he had three epidodes prettyn close together in the night that required stimulation so they had to put him on an IMC which looks like a ventilator. It gives a puff of air every so often to remind him to breathe. Stu called back a little later and talked to a nurse practitioner who told him it is only a step behind a CPAP. So he is still doing some breathing on his own with it too. The nurse also told us that he had some green stuff in his stomach. She did not seem concerned about it because his stomach looks okay and he does not seem to be in pain. I will be going to the hospital after the doctors are done with rounds so I will talk to his doctor then and see what is going on. We had been told in the beginning that there would be forward steps and backward steps. I guess this is one of the backward steps.