02/18/2007

First of all, I want to thank everyone for trivia nite! It was a great time. Erik and I actually had a chance to have a night out and have some laughs. It was a welcome relief. Thank you everyone. Someone mentioned that Erik might have certain dietary restrictions. I can emphatically say that he does not. Trust me... Erik eats what he wants. His medications are working well. Throughout all of this we haven't really payed attention to what might cause a flare-up, but as far as I know he hasn't had any and the week I was in the hospital he lived on coffee, Diet Mountain Dew, and shared my hospital food. Now the mediocre news about Emery. I guess Dr. D is a little different than Dr. A in that Emery will not be challenged off the vent. In fact, he said Emery could spend months on the vent, and only months AFTER his due date will they talk about a tracheostomy and long-term ventilation. He said Emery can't survive off the vent and Emery will dictate his care... so, no challenging Emery off the vent. An extra chest x-ray was ordered today as well because Dr. D thought there was a small chance Emery had a pneumothorax (collection of air or gas in the space surrounding the lungs). The radiologist read it and said 'no way, there's not one there,' but Dr. D said he is a worry wart and wanted to make sure. Hey, if he's a worry wart I'm okay with it. He seems like he genuinely cares about the babies. Erik and I got here at about 5 o'clock and he was hanging around talking to some parents who just had a baby admitted, he came by to talk to us about the second chest x-ray, and then he basically walked around and looked in on all of the babies as he was just willing them to get better and grow. Emery went 24 hours without throwing up, and then I asked the nurse if he had thrown up today and then he threw up. They don't think it's NEC. He's pooping great and has a soft tummy. He's just retaining some food and throwing up a bit, and to Erik and me it looks like he's gagging on his ET tube. Nothing can be done about that, either. Steroids will be started on February 20 again to try to help Emery's lung function and we'll see what goes from there. He's sitting high today at 55% to 60% oxygen. His chest x-ray looked better so they went down a bit on his pressure support but his O2 requirements went up a bit. That's all for Emmers. So, again thank you all for a great night. It was wonderful to see everyone and humbling to realize we have that much support. We truly do appreciate all you do. God bless! Sarah, Erik and Emery