PICC Lines and the Regular Vent

Today we hit some major milestones in Rowan's progress.  Rowan's blood cultures were still negative this morning, so we were given the all clear to have PICC lines inserted and the umbilical line removed! Rowan has made huge progress in getting rid of his blood infection.  They will continue his antibiotics for at least 14 more days to make sure that it is gone for good.

This morning, Rowan was still requiring 90% or more oxygen and he kind of had the doctors and nurses stumped. His blood gases were looking great and his X-rays were clear so they weren't real sure why his oxygen needs were so high.  They decided that they would switch him back to the regular vent and see if that would make a difference.  So around lunchtime, they switched him back to the regular ventilator and he's been around 60-70% since then. 😊  They also discovered that he has a small leak around his ventilator tube. This is because he has grown enough that there is space in his airway around the tube and some air is escaping,  Ultimately the solution would be to put in a bigger tube, but they really don't like to extubate little guys like Rowan and then reintubate them.  So for now, he just sounds like a little kitten with the air that is escaping (I think he sounds like Wheezy, the penguin from Toy Story). Hopefully soon he will be big enough and be doing well enough that they can take him off the vent and put him on CPAP.

After lunch, the nurse practitioner was able to place two PICC lines, one in each forearm and they were able to remove his umbilical line.  With the removal of the umbilical line, the rest of his umbilical cord came off.  Now he has the cutest, tiniest little belly button. 😊 The PICC lines will be able to stay in for a long period of time and give the doctors and nurses much better options to give meds and fluids and also to draw blood and labs.

They redid some of Rowan's measurements tonight.  His head is 1/4" bigger, he is 1/2 cm longer and his belly has shrunk just a little bit.  I don't know if it's because we spend so much time here looking at him, but John and I think that his face is starting to fill out and his ribs are not as pronounced as they used to be.  He also gained another ounce today so he is up to 1 pound 10 ounces.

We are so thankful that Rowan has had a good day.  After a couple of not so great days, the good days like this are going to seem even more special.  Every baby step forward is one step closer to getting to hold our sweet boy and eventually getting to take him home.