Sunday: James Update

Today IS Sunday, right?? The days have just blended into one another around here, so I'm never quite sure...I think I lost Friday altogether. :-) Keith, Darlene and I have been taking turns staying at the hospital, which usually means that one person will get there in the morning to relieve the night-shift (like I got there at 9:30am today and stayed until 6:30pm) and then someone will come at dinner time to relieve the day-shift (when you're in the room with James, pretty much the only break you get is the 5 minutes every 4 hours when the nurses come in to take his vitals...so then you can go to the bathroom! Yay!) and then stay all night. You'd think that just sitting in a chair and holding a baby for 9 hours wouldn't be that bad, but it's exhausting! You know, like when you've been traveling all day and you can't figure out why you're so tired. And then add a fussy baby and lots of alarms into the mix and you can imagine the fun!

James has been doing pretty well, but he's still far from his happy-go-lucky little self. The past few days he's been throwing up pretty often, which is scary because it makes his heart rate spike from the normal range in the 150-160's to 190-200's and all the alarms go off like crazy. The gagging/dry heaving is actually good when his heart rate spikes, because that sends a message to the brain to reset and calm down. I remember in the NICU we had a big scare the night before we discovered his NEC infection when his heart rate suddenly spiked to over 300 and they had to do a procedure to gag him, which brought his rate back down. Super scary! He gets very upset whenever you move him to a new position or to/from the crib {he just wants to be held all the time and I don't blame him}. One good thing from today: I got to enjoy snuggling my little boy while watching a 2-hour marathon of Barefoot Contessa shows on Food Network! That would never happen at home! :-)

James has been running a fever off and on and the lab found some Ecoli bacteria in his urine sample {not a dangerous level}, so he's being treated with strong antibiotics to combat any infection that might be going on. He's been getting a very slow drip of 1 mL per hour of formula into his stomach tube {just mere drops}, but he hasn't been tolerating that very well. Yesterday he was spitting up pretty much everything and the docs were starting and stopping the feeds throughout the day. His last spit up was around 8:00 am this morning, so he's had some success today keeping things down. His belly is tight and a bit distended and they're not hearing many bowel sounds, which means things aren't moving as well as they'd like yet. We'd originally been told that he could come home on Monday {tomorrow}, but now they want to keep him a few more days to get over the fever, get feeds more regulated, hear more bowel sounds, and have his BM's be more consistent. Right now it mostly looks like he's just getting out stomach bile. {Hey, I don't usually write about poo on my blog, but this is the kid's first poo of his whole life, so it's a big deal around here!} :-)

We'd appreciate prayer for all those factors so that he can start getting back to "normal" and so that we can bring him home in as healthy a state as possible. Also, we thank you for your prayers for Keith and me! It takes a lot of energy to care for a sick baby and then when we get home it's hard to find the energy & patience just to do the everyday household stuff. I'd also like prayer for my back. I've had sciatica-type pains ever since I was pregnant with Maddie, which flare up about once a month but are taken care of with ibuprophen, a heating pad and taking it easy for a day or so. Two weeks ago an episode of it was so bad that I could barely walk or bend over for 3-4 days. Then this week the pain started to be constant, plus shooting pains down the back of my leg and numbness in my foot {not a good sign, in my mind!}. So I went to the doctor and had some X-rays taken and now I'm waiting for results. It could be a pinched nerve, a slipped disc, or something else. I'll be doing a few sessions of physical therapy to help manage the pain and decrease the episodes, but if it gets to the point where I have any muscle weakness in my leg or foot, I'll need an immediate MRI to check for nerve damage. Let me tell you, I now have new empathy for anyone with chronic back issues! It takes a real toll on daily life! {Sleeping on a hospital cot [aka: pile of metal springs covered by a thin layer of plastic!] is not exactly the best remedy, so it's a good thing we're taking turns.} I'd love to figure out how to fix this so I can feel 100% again. Anyway, enough whining by me! Let's focus on getting our little sweetie pie healthy and home again! Thank you to everyone who is supporting us--we feel your prayers!