02/03/2007

Well, just a bit of a set back. Emery has been acting a bit strange in his pulse ox all week, since Sunday to be exact. He's been what the nurses call labile, up and down on the monitor. Erik and I came here Wednesday night and his nurse Hope said he'd been desatting for no reason, not like he does when he's mad or with a wet diaper or wants to be moved, so she wanted a CBC drawn on him. It came back negative so they pulled his percutaneous line and his IV and we all celebrated. Unfortunately, all week he's been getting cranky and irritable and requiring quite a bit of oxygen, sometimes 100%, at night and just not feeling well. He's been inconsolable, which isn't like Emery. Usually if you put him on his belly or wrap him up tight he is content, but not for the last few nights. Anyway, I called this morning just to see how his night was and he poor guy needed 100% oxygen all night and it turns out he has pneumonia. They had to go back up on his mean airway pressure and his power on the vent and his IV is back in and he had to have another dose of surfactant this morning. All in all, they feel he's a little sick and not a lot sick, like the pneumonia could be a lot worse. He got a new endotracheal tube yesterday, and they thought that would help with his breathing, which it did at first but eventually it became obvious it was pneumonia. The good news is the doctors do feel it's treatable. He's being covered on a wide range of antiobiotics and his blood gases look good day (PCO2 of 50% and one of 46% yesterday) but his lungs are just hazy. So, if any of you are wondering where this leads, it means that weaning Emery from the vent is put back a bit. That's still the plan, and Dr. A still plans on that for the next two weeks, and he plans on passing on the information to the next doctor, but that means that he won't be put on a conventional vent on Sunday and that Erik and I are delayed once again in holding him. Emery will be 7 weeks old Monday. This morning when I called they actually went and got the overnight doctor to talk to me so I knew something was wrong right away. This is one of the setbacks that they talk about in the NICU. He certainly could be much worse. Dr. A said he's got some nasty bacteria, stuff like gram-positive cocci and gram-negative rods and that it will take a few days before he really starts feeling better. Sometimes I think of Emery as the little baby that could even though he wasn't quite supposed to yet. We love you all! I'll keep you updated on little love... Sarah, Erik, and Emery