Roller Coaster

I was thinking the other day about when the preemie Cabbage Patch kids came out and how I wanted one so bad. Their diapers were so small and they were just so tiny and cute. Now I think it is a little strange that they would even make a preemie baby doll... The Cabbage Patch dolls did not have to stay in and isolator they did not have all the tubes and wires. You could buy them just like any other baby doll and take them home. That is not so much the case when you have a preemie of your own. You are thrust into a world that is so completely foreign and unknown. And they do not ease you in, from day one, there you are on the scariest roller coaster ride of your life. In my 8 days of experience, there have been really high highs and really low lows... there is no pause, there is no fast forward.... We just have to function, even when it feels impossible. Somehow, we have to keep going.

The good news is, Ethan got a new ventilator for Easter. He was taken off the oscillator and put on a conventional ventilator. This new machine gives Ethan a lot more respiratory responsibility. He is breathing a lot more on his own and his oxygen levels are fairly low. Switching over the machines was quick, easy and uneventful. He is responding well and his lungs look great. He also had a cranium ultrasound that looked at his brain and it came back normal. The issues we are dealing with now are in my sweet little boy's belly. He has a very swollen belly and his coloring is off. His heartbeat went up a pretty significant amount today and they are worried that he has an infection. Infection's in a baby as premature as him is very scary because he does not have the immune system to fight it off. They are running tests to determine if he does indeed have an infection but in the meantime, they are starting him on antibiotics to be on the safe side. The problem could be as simple as him still having meconium that needs to come out (meconium is the first poopy of babies, the tar-like substance). I HOPE that is the case... Leave it to my child to get everyone all worked up thinking the worst and the situation is simply that he needs to take a poopy!! I hope we know more tomorrow about what is actually going on. For now, let's pray for poop.

That is the update for now, I think we will know more soon and I will continue to update things here. As always, thanks for all your thoughts, prayers and loving gestures... We appreciate it all more than we will ever be able to express.

With love-
Randy, Arika and Ethan