Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Baby Ethan Update - 8/18/08

Hello again all! I think it is about that time again!
I think I am going to start adding the dates in the subject line. That way, for all of you who save these you will at least be able to keep future updates organized.
Well, were do I begin?
I can't remember if I have told you all that he has possibly developed an infection in his belly. They don't know for sure, but they have taken a blood test to determine if there is any presence of an infection. His poor little belly is very distended, and they don't know what is causing the extra swelling. They have already started him on a wide range of anibiotics just in case. Even if it comes back negative they will continue the antibiotics for 7 to 10 extra days. If the labs do come back positive, they will need to invasively research to source of the infection (cut him open, find it, and cut it out).
He has been taken off his ventilator and put on oxygen at about 40-50%, taken off his oxygen and put on a nasal CPAP at about 20%. They chose to do the CPAP becuase he was breathing extremely irregular and seemed to be struggeling trying to take his breaths. With the positive air flow, it will allow him to slow his breathing down a bit and expand is lungs a little more with each breath.

The other night I called his nurse at about 11:45pm. When she answered the phone I could hear him screaming! I asked if he was ok, her response was, "he is in a little discomfort." It took me a little bit to finally get out of her that he was actually in kind of a lot of pain. She also told us that he had been crying this way since before she came on shift at 7:30pm. This made me furious. We were told during our orientation that they would NEVER let these babies be in pain. Discomfort I can understand, but not this much pain. I called Tia to tell her about it, she called them about 10 minutes later than I, and the nurse gave her a completely different sotry. And you thought we were upset before! We talked with his day nurse and the neonatologist regarding our concerns. He said that if what we were saying was actually true then there is a major problem. He told us to keep an eye on the nurses and report any time we feel uncomfortable. In defense for Deaconess, I wholly trust in the team altogether. We have had some problems with a couple of the nurses, but all-in-all, he does recieve good care there.
Last night I spoke with his nurse, she informed me that he was finally sleeping for the first time in quite some time. She said he was completely zonked, how cute! So she was relieved to see that he was comfortable enough to get some rest. She also told me that Tia and I touching him to change his diapers, or taking his temp, or lifting him to weigh him is very hard for him! His little belly is just really ouchy. However, he is starting to pass gas through his stomas, which is a wonderful sight to see. They do have a NG tube to decompress his belly, but some times there is not enough suction to get all the air out. So his system has to send it out the other way. This is a sign that his bowels are working...FINALLY!
Well, I don't have much more to say, and I am running out of time here at work! So I will live you with what you have!
Again, thank you all for all your prayers, you all mean so much to us!
Take care, and we love you all!
- Kip, Tia, Riley, and Baby Ethan -

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