Tuesday, July 10, 2012

7 weeks old

Not sure if this feels like the quickest 7 weeks or longest 7 weeks of my life. It is hard to say. Mason is doing ok today. Still not sure if he has an infection or what...all cultures continue to come back negative. The only thing they haven't really ruled out is his lungs but haven't been very concerned about it because he is on minimal settings. They tried to do another MVT today to see if he was ready to extubate and he couldn't handle the test again today.  They tend to think he is weak due to some kind of infection which is causing him to not be able to do well but also talked about the possibility of steroids to help him get off the vent. They decided to keep him on antibiotics for a total of 7 days and then think about steroids. I am praying he is off the vent by then. They decided to not increase his feeds today but instead begin giving him human milk fortifier. This is a protein that helps increase his calories and hopefully will help him continue to gain weight. He was around 2 lbs. 9 oz. today.

Josh went up this afternoon and Mason's respiration rate was really high. Like 122 breaths per minute. They checked to see if he was hot and he wasn't. This is typically why he might have increased respiration but I don't think his breaths per minute has gotten that high before. The respiratory therapist came in and messed around with the settings and found that if he took away the pressure that assisted Mason when taking a breath then his breaths would return to a normal breath per minute rate. Basically, the problem could be his vent tube is too small now and he needs a bigger one or Mason prefers to breath without the extra support provided by the pressure. Hard to explain but that is what is going on now. Please pray that he will be able to come off the vent soon. And that he will continue to gain weight and tolerate his feeds. I know that he will eventually be able to come off the vent but the longer he is on it the more side effects he could have from that. It is hard to believe that just 7 weeks ago was a new beginning with our new little (emphasis on little) baby coming into the world. He has definitely changed our lives and I know he and his story has touched a lot of peoples lives. One can never know a reason why something happens but I do know that we are going through this for a purpose and that one day we will look back on this and be able to understand. And then we will have both little boys at home. I know they say that the transition from 1 to 2 children is hard but this sure has been harder than I could possibly imagine! I keep the faith and know that it will all pay off in the end!

I am 7 weeks old tonight!
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2 comments:

  1. FionaJuly 10, 2012 at 9:22 PM

    Certainly praying for your sweet little guy to be off the vent soon and continue to gain weight. He is definitely looking bigger and bigger in his photos. What a sweetheart. One day you can look back at all of these photos with Mason and remind him of what an amazing little fighter he was.

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  2. C MCJuly 11, 2012 at 12:06 PM

    I don't know how I stumbled onto your blog but I'm so glad I did. Your little guy is so strong and such a fighter. I will pray for him every second I can. My daughter, our first, was born at 27 weeks 2 days and it was the scariest thing I'd ever been through. At the time I knew of no one who had a preemie or had been to the NICU and my husband and I felt so alone. I wrote to our baby girl almost every day she was in the NICU and I honestly can say there was no better therapy! Mason is amazing and he will be home, right where he belongs, soon!!

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