Virus Update

Stu and I did wind up staying in the hospitality room last night at the hospital. It was nice being able to walk down the hall to see Brandon a few times throughout the night. He seems to be doing a little better. His CO levels are slowly coming down and as of this morning he didn't seem to have any more bile coming out of the tube that was dropped down his stomach to suction him. He was also starting to wiggle around much more than he had been the day before. Brandon has always been a wiggler so I am sure that is a sign that he is starting to feel better than he was feeling. Stu and I came home this morning around 9:45 to rest. We will go back to the hospital in a little while to see Brandon and will go again tonight. I am not sure if I will stay yet or not. We have the hospitality room until Tuesday I think. Sue was Brandon's nurse last night. It was really nice to have someone there who really knows Brandon really well and to talk to about what was going on with him.

Virus

They think Brandon has a virus. I got a call this morning at 7:50 from Dr. Rekedal. He said that Brandon had abdominal distention and he thought it was most likely a virus that is causing it. He said they were going to decompress his stomach by dropping a tube down his stomach to suction it, they were going to stop his feeds, and put him back on CPAP since his stomach was pushing into his diaphragm and making it difficult for him to breathe. Once he gets over whatever is going on he will be put back on the nasal cannula and will start feeds again although initially the feeds will be less than he was getting and he will work his way up. I went to the hospital an hour later and spent the whole day at the hospital. I have a hospitality room for the next 3 days incase I want to stay over. I might stay because this way if I wake up in the middle of the night I can go and see him to see if he is okay instead of calling to see. Hopefully it will work its way out of his system soon. I hate seeing him back on CPAP and undressed.

34 Weeks Corrected

Brandon continues to show no signs of infection. He is still on the antibiotic until tomorrow when they know for sure if he has an infection. So far there is not a positive on the bloodwork for an infection which is good.

Brandon weighed 1900 grams tonight. He is 4 pounds, 3 ounces.

Brandon had a bottle at 3:00 today. He drank 17 cc's of the 33 cc's so he had to have the rest in his feeding tube. That was not bad though. Rachel, his nurse tonight, is going to give him a bottle at his midnight feeding so I will see how he did when I call in the morning.

Infection Update

I spoke to Rachel last night once and this morning. Both times she told me that Brandon was great. He had no temperature again and he was doing fine with his feeds. She told me that his iv is out now. So I guess the temperature wound up being nothing.

Possible Infection

I got to the hospital today around 1:00. I held Brandon for awhile and then Mark told me to do his cares around 2:30. When I took Brandon's temperature it was 100.2 which is high. The resident came over to look at Brandon and thought he looked ok even though he was warm so she said Brandon could have his bottle. Mark tried to feed Brandon his bottle at 3:00 and showed me how to do it. I had some trouble feeding him. I am going to try again sometime tomorrow. It is a lot harder to feed a preemie a bottle than a full term baby. Brandon only drank 13 cc's out of the 33 cc's. Not nearly as good as last night's bottle. When I left Mark had been told to get a rectal temperature on Brandon when he got a chance. I called at 5:30 to see what the temperature was and it was 100.4 so they thought it was a possible infection. They put an iv on Brandon's arm to start fluids and started to give him an antibiotic. They also took some blood and were holding his feeds. Stu and I went to the hospital and one of the nurses paged Dr. Hudome for us to talk to. She called back and she answered all of our questions. She also said she was going to be coming in between 8 and 9 tonight to look at a different baby so she would look at Brandon too and if he seemed ok and looked ok he could resume his feeds. When she was there she said he looked good so she said he could have a bottle with 20 cc's at his 9:00 feeding and if he continued to be ok he could have his full feedings after that. Rachel was his nurse tonight. She gave him his bottle at 9:00 and he drank the whole thing. Dr. Hudome also said the CBC (blood work) came back fine. They will find out the results of the other bloodwork by Saturday morning to see if he has an infection. It could just be that he is hot since he has been dressed and wrapped and in the isolette. It doesn't hurt that he was started on an antibiotic incase it was something. If the results come back that it is not an infection they will stop the antibiotic.

Brandon weighed 1818 grams tonight. He hit the 4 pound mark!

First Bottle

I got to the hospital this afternoon and Chris was Brandon's nurse. She told me that he was going to be getting his first bottle today to see how he did. She said we could do his bottle at any time that was good for me and if Stu wanted to be there for him. He did want to be there so we decided we would have Chris give him the bottle at his 6:00 feeding. The nurse gives the first bottle incase there is a problem. It is very hard for preemies to drink a bottle because they need to remember to suck, swallow, and breathe. They give the babies a half hour to drink what they can and then they give them the rest in their feeding tube. Brandon did great with his bottle. He drank the entire thing and did not have any episodes. His oxygen went down a few times but that it expected with the first bottle feeding and he went right back up each time. He really seemed to enjoy drinking the milk and finished the whole thing within the half hour. He had 33 cc's which is what his feedings are. That is one ounce and 3 cc's more. He did a really good job when he was burped too. Tomorrow I will get to give Brandon his bottle. His nurse will be right by my side to help. Brandon weighed 1800 grams tonight so he is a little more than 3 pounds 15 ounces. I am sure he will hit the 4 pound mark tomorrow.

Quick Evening Update

Brandon was 1764 grams tonight so he is now 3 pounds 14 ounces. Stu and I gave him a bath tonight and then he was out cold during his feed. He is having 33 cc's now every 3 hours.