Day 8

Day 8

Jackson day 8! 1 lb 14oz. I see less bile coming back up his feeding tube today. We hope we can get him to poop again. The Ativan will slow movements as well. No signs of blood and his tummy measurements are good showing no signs of distention (no indicators of NEC). We are going to give him a little suppository to help get things moving.  He started his third dose of Indomethacin treatment at 10:30 for his PDA. No  signs of side effects resulting from the treatment yet but the murmur is still present. His fluids have been cut back a bit to help that valve close. This will in turn keep his weight down for a few more days. They weigh all fluid given and taken so every vile is weighed before and after taking blood, every diaper is weighed empty and full to watch for complications with the drug. There is a chance if the treatment does not close the PDA completely, and he has no aversion to the Indomethacin, they will run another 3 stage Indomethacin treatment or go with a NeoProfen treatment. Blood gas numbers have been good from a respiratory standpoint but his ph is a little off so they counter that by changing his TPN (intravenous food). They will not feed him milk until after the Indomethacin treatments to curb the risk of NEC. He still does not need blood but he will very soon. He will need multiple transfusions while he is here. He is too small to produce enough blood and they have to pull a lot to continually check his stats.  They have been intermittently giving him Ativan for discomfort primarily due to the respirator. The doctor is pulling it so he will be fussy but it will help him get ready to remove the vent line in the next two to three days. They role him into new positions every 3 to 4 hours or so to keep his little head round. His Bilirubin (causes Jaundice) count is getting better and we are down to one light! Soon it will be off and then intermittently back on him as needed. They performed an ultrasound on his head this morning and it showed no signs of a bleed on the right and the bleed on the left is very small (Doctor assessed between a one and two) so very good and they will take another look at that in a week. ... This is a picture of little Jackson holding his mom's finger this morn. He's a fighter and he  loves his sweet mother. 

Jackson opened his eyes more than we've seen all week. He looks back and forth between mom and dad singing and talking to him. It is so wonderful to get to interact with him.