Good Days and Bad Days

Upon entering the NICU, we knew that there were going to be good days and bad days.  Today we had our first bad day.  John and I got to the hospital a little after 9:00 this morning.  His nurse was working on getting all of his labs done and her morning assessment.  She told us that his blood/gas levels didn't look very good and that they had had to increase his vent settings quite a bit overnight.  They changed him to 60 breaths per minute which is the highest it has been since the day he was born.  They were also giving him another round of meds to raise the pH of his blood because it was low and also giving him another blood transfusion.  Because of the transfusion they needed to stop feedings for the day.  These were all things that aren't a huge deal and didn't worry us too much because they have had to do this before.  We knew that being so young and little that he would have ups and downs with his breathing. The good news from the nurse was that she was hearing bowel sounds this morning (they didn't hear many yesterday) and that he had pooped during the night. Overall, we were pretty happy with his progress.

Then, Dr. Harris, the infectious disease doctor came in to talk to us.  She said that Rowan's infection wasn't really responding to the antibiotics that he was on and that they were going to change one of them.  She also told us that they think the infection site might be in/around his umbilical cord.  She said that since his "life lines" go in through his umbilical cord it may be causing all of the positive blood cultures, but there is no way to know because we can't remove those lines.  Dr. Harris said that his platelets and white blood count looked good and showed that he was trying to fight the infection.  Then she dropped a bomb on us and told us that she wasn't sure if he was going to be able to beat this infection.  This whole time, John and I have remained very positive and hopeful that Rowan is going to beat this and hearing that just took the air right out of our lungs.  We were certainly not prepared to hear those words spoken out loud.  We know it's a possibility that things could go wrong, but we're choosing to be strong and remain positive for our little guy.

After Dr. Harris left, Dr. Sidlinger, the NICU doctor, came in and provided some major reassurance.  He said that Rowan is doing a great job of fighting the infection and that is shown in his white blood cell count.  He said most babies as young as Rowan don't fight as hard as he is fighting.  He told us that the new antibiotic is one of the best and that he hoped it would help Rowan.  Dr. Sidlinger's words were reassuring, but I remained pretty shaken up all morning.

Rowan had a much better afternoon and after some lunch and a break his mommy felt better, too. 😊 Throughout the day, they were able to decrease his oxygen levels and he became more active. This was reassuring to us, too.  We spent the afternoon looking after our little guy and being thankful for all of the progress that he has made.

I had one of my sweet students visit me this afternoon. It was great to see her and catch up with her on what has been happening at school.  I also had some friends come by and visit Rowan and I which gave John the chance to get out for a bit and run some errands.  He's cooking up something special for Mother's Day and has me very curious as to what he has planned.

Early this evening, they changed the vent bar to a bigger size so that it wouldn't be resting on his face as much.  It's nice to need something bigger for him for once! I enjoyed getting to see his whole face and he is working really hard to open his eyes!  He is doing much better this evening and we hope and pray that the new antibiotics start doing their job and that he starts kicking this infection's butt!

John and I continue to be blown way by all of the support that we have been given.  They say it takes a village to raise a child... Well, we have a pretty darn good village. Keep the prayers and positive thoughts coming!!

Daddy bought "The Little Engine That Could" for Rowan today, so now I'm going to go try to read it to my sweet little boy without bawling my eyes out. Wish me luck! 😊