Everything was pretty much "status quo" for our little guy until Wednesday when he decided to have a lot of spit ups and thus a lot of spells - upwards of 7 in one day - which is way more than the one to two he was typically having. So on Thursday after drawing some blood to confirm what he already suspected, a low red blood cell count, his doctor ordered for him to have a blood transfusion. I'll admit, at first the idea of a transfusion didn't sit well with me - something about someone else's blood going into my baby was a bit nerve wracking, but then his amazing (yep, there's that word again) nurse put all my fears to rest. Upon visiting that day she told me that Harper was doing so well and that he was clearly enjoying his "Spa Day." Ha, "Spa Day" - I liked the sound of that. It all made sense too, because of the transfusion they stopped his feeds, so instead he was just getting IV fluids and electrolytes and all that fresh blood and thus red blood cells, were helping move oxygen around his body, helping his breathing and quite literally breathing new life into our little guy. He went spell free for 36 hours after that...a "Spa Day" success!
Now while Harper was having a tough Wednesday, so was I. After two days of some pretty uncomfortable stomach and back pain, and then an afternoon of some serious sharp pains in my right side/back I called my doctor who instructed me to head to the emergency room to get checked out. Hello emotional roller coaster! So instead of heading to the hospital as I had planned, to visit Harper, I was heading there for myself - *sigh. After some tests and a bit of waiting around (holding our breath as best we could - emergency rooms are yuck - especially when you are trying with all your might to stay healthy so you can visit your baby in the NICU) I learned I had a kidney infection - the result of a couple urinary tract infections that I didn't really realize I had - which were likely due to the catheters I had earlier in the month during my various hospital stays - you know, because life hadn't been interesting enough this month. So antibiotics, lots of fluids and rest were ordered up, and luckily since I didn't have a fever I was told I'd still be able to visit Harper - phew! I think I need one of those "Spa Days" but maybe I'll take an IV of chardonnay instead! ;)
The rest of the week he was still having a bit of tummy troubles - lots of spit up, or emesis to be all fancy and medical about it - and still a lot of gas in his belly. He also managed to snap his PIC line and pull his feeding tube out on Friday morning - what a little trickster! Instead of a new PIC they just put an IV in his arm as he'd hopefully be off the IV soon. Meanwhile, the emesis episodes would typically cause a spell and thus the cycle continued a bit for Friday and Saturday. It was clear that CPAP was to blame and so on his three week/32 week birthday I spoke to his doctor about going on a trial run of removing it...he was open to the idea and agreed that if he had a decent night, he'd remove it in the morning.
So that's how week 4 in the NICU will begin...stay tuned.
In the meantime, here are some pictures from one of his bath days this week.
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