Superstitions....Confirmed.

Dear Samuel,

I'm beginning to think you may have some sort of supernatural effect on Wisconsin sports teams while being held by your Mom or I.

Exhibit A) Wisconsin Badgers. News Years Day. Outback Bowl. We didn't get to the hospital until late in the game and the Badgers were actually losing at that point. Well, once I was able to hold you the Badgers tied the game up and forced OT.....You know the rest.

Exhibit B) Green Bay Packers. Today. We didn't get to the hospital until halfway through the third quarter. Down most of the second half, Mom started holding you, and it all turned around. (It's too bad we didn't stay for the Badger game tonight, they could have used our help.) We will for sure be there next Sunday though, we have another game to win.

GameTime for Sammy

Enough about my theory....

Today was another good day. 

Your alarms were far less today. The blood culture they drew on Friday came back negative at the 48 hours mark (they'll culture it for 5 days total). Also, your O2 needs were significantly less (or maybe it just seems like it, because it's lower than 30) than yesterday. When we were there today, you were set at 27% (And remember, "Room Air" is 21% aka the air the rest of us are breathing right now). Tonight, when I called down, you were set to 25%! 

Weigh-In today was even; you are still at 2 pounds 2 ounces. 

Your eyelids were getting heavy....

Your nurse today mentioned how much more comfortable you looked today compared to yesterday. I'm hoping that means that we are "Out of the Woods" with the RSV, especially with your O2 needs being lower.

Here's to another good night. 

Love, 

Mom and Dad

Lightning Round

Dear Samuel,

Not a lot of change today (If this continues to be the case, I may skip a night or two).

Weigh-In you are back to 2 pounds 2 ounces!

You continue to have your "alarms" (de-sats), but have been MUCH better since you had your transfusion. That's what the staff seems to be chalking this all up to; is low hemoglobin and acting your age (somewhat typical in micro premies).

Al of the tests have come back "clean" so far from Friday morning. The 24 hour mark of the blood culture came back negative (and hopefully continues to come back negative), as well.

Overall, you've had a much better day today than Friday. Wish I could say the same about myself. Remember how Mom and Isaac were sick last weekend and I was healthy as a "horse". Yeah, that may have caught up to me....

Have another good night buddy.

Go Pack Go,
Mom and Dad

A Small Scare

Dear Samuel,

Well, you gave us a bit of a scare today......

Every time we have had a bath scheduled, you seem to weasel your way out of it by having a "bad" day (Last time you came back positive for your infection, another time you had been having a rough day with de-sats). Today you began to have an apnea attack (Meaning you stopped remembering to breath...very similar to sleep apnea) and de-saturate. Enough so, that your nurse said that your color changed and you looked "mottled" (blotchy, spotty). At one point, you had a 3 minute span of time where they had difficulty getting your saturation levels and heart rate back to normal. There was a small chance you would have had to be re-intubated (vent tube) if they were unable to get your levels back but luckily that wasn't the case.

Of course, by the time your Mom and I got there all of your levels were A-Okay for around 2 hours. Sometimes, we think your nurses like to lie to us....When you are having a good day before we get there to visit, you de-sat right when we walk in. If you are having a bad day, we walk in and everything is fine. But really, your nurses are awesome...you just like to do the opposite of what they tell us.

Your doctors and nurses ran a bunch of tests to try to find the cause of this little spell but everything came back negative (Blood tests will be cultured for 5 days again). X-Ray showed NO signs on pneumonia, so that's good.

Some small changes today, in terms of feedings. You were bumped up to 15 ccs of breastmilk every 3 hours being feed over a 2 hour period with an hour between feedings to vent bubbles out of your tummy. They also had to bump up your respiration rate to 30 bpm after you little apnea spell. O2 was back down to 48% when we left for the night.

Your weight is still at 1 pound 11.5 ounces.

So, we are supposed to give you a bath tomorrow. This better not happen again!

Love,
Mom and Dad

Moments in Time

Dear Samuel,

There are moments in life that stick with you....Winning a big game, Meeting your mom, Seeing how beautiful she looked when she was walking down the aisle at our wedding.

Tonight, I had one of those moments.

Both your Mom and I got to hold you today. We're both hoping that this is a trend that can continue as you keep getting bigger and stronger. 

In other news.....

We are past the 72 hour mark on your blood culture coming back negative (or not coming back at all, I should say). This is awesome news because the tentative plan right now is to remove your IV as soon as the 26th. One less thing that would need to be hooked up to you! 

Speaking of your IV, they actually had to move it to a vein in your head! Apparently, it's a better place to get at your veins from instead of your arm or leg. 

Your feedings have been taken up to 11 ccs per every 3 hours. Hopefully this helps with chunking you out a bit. It has so far, as you are up to 1 pound 10.4 ounces. 

So glad that you have had a few good days in a row. Let's keep it rolling! 

Love, 

Mom and Dad

Honeymooner's Once Again

Dear Samuel,

Just when we thought the Honeymoon was over......

Today, was a much better day than yesterday bud. First, your blood culture that was taken on Wednesday morning still has not grown anything. Meaning that your infection MAY be gone.

During rounds today Dr. Gozi (Not her actual name..I think its spelled Ngozi) decided to take your vent settings down to help prep you for possible extubation (A $10 word) tomorrow. Now, this will hopefully serve two purposes; 1) The culture on your vent tube came back positive for bacteria which can mean a possible infection in your lungs or simply just bacteria in your tube; and 2) TO GET THE TUBE OUT!! They would switch you over to a CPAP machine, obviously, but this would be a huge step forward!

We are still chasing blood sugar levels but were able to stabilize them tonight a bit. The last reading we had was around 180 tonight when we were there.

They had to switch your IV from your foot into your forearm and now you have a "board" on your arm. This makes your arm semi-immobile but you are dealing with it well.

One thing your mom and I got to witness today was tummy time. You LOVE being on your tummy (At least your O2 loves you being on your tummy). We also saw you push with your legs today and raise your butt in the air, almost like you were trying to do a push up. I think you are A LOT stronger than what you lead us to believe.

Your left eye is also pretty much all the way open (You can see his right eye in the picture above).

Hoping you have a good night pal so that we can maybe take your tube out tomorrow.

To be continued........

Love,
Mom and Dad

A Short Report.....

Dear Samuel,

Not a ton to report today.......

Your weight is up to 1 pound 10.5 ounces!

You are still battling with "de sating" (O2 dropping unexpectedly). During Rounds today, your doctor told us that they do NOT think it is your PDA opening up. So, for now, we can rule that out. I think we are still going with the assumption that this is being caused by the infection.

Speaking of your infection, they took a blood culture on Monday that came back today and was positive for an infection. They also drew one today to be cultured for 48 as well. You are still on antibiotics to help stave off said infection.

Blood Sugar has been better today.....not so many big swings (150-180). You are still on insulin but have held steady at a very low dose. Hoping we can get this under control, so there can be one less thing going into your IV.

Your IV was also switched to your other leg today, and you are now in a "board" so that you can't flex your ankle too much where your IV is. This is good and bad, as the foot that didn't have the IV is in is used for testing your blood sugar and is getting sort of raw.

Otherwise, the doctors are very impressed with the progress you are making. Let's kick this infection and start working on getting you porked out!

See you tomorrow buddy.

Love,
Mom and Dad