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02/01/06
David's a little better.
David's still on Vapotherm, but they've decreased the amount of pressure, he was on a 12 and now he's on 8. They intend to continue to decrease it until he's off of it. He finally woke up from the overdose on Baclofen, thank God. And his swelling is going down. He's lost a little bit of the water weight.
To be perfectly honest, I have a hard time believing that he even HAS RSV....he's not coughing, sneezing, running a fever, producing excretions, etc. The only thing that's a problem is the extra moisture in his lungs is making it hard for him to breath. I kind of wonder if you can't get a false positive.
It doesn't matter really, anyways, if he has it or not. It's not like they can give him a medicine for RSV, all they can do is treat the symptoms via breathing treatments, etc, which they are doing anyways.
The doctor said all that has to happen now is for him to get off of the Vapotherm and they need to wean his breathing treatments a little, and he'll get to come home. The doctor said give it two or three more days :D
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02/05/06
David's first SUPERBOWL SUNDAY....
hahahha I really don't care about football. And I asked him which team he was going for, the Steelers or the Seahawks, and he didn't seem to care one way or the other. He did wear a really cute football outfit today though.
Anyways...I was talking to Dr. Levy on Friday, and he said that the RSV was very minimal, and the main problem was the pulmonary edema, the extra fluid in his lungs made it hard for him to breath. I have a sneaking suspicion that if they hadn't of overdosed his baclofen we'd of been out of there sooner...but that doesn't really matter now.
So they've upped his Lasix from .8 ml once a day to .6 ml twice a day to prevent it from happening again. The plan was for them to go down on the Vapotherm one liter a day until he was back on the nasal canula on Monday...but they ended up going to a nasal canula yesterday. So now the plan is for us to take him home tomorrow.
I have some SUPER cute pictures of him. I'll get them posted as soon as I get a few minutes.
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02/06/06
David is NOT home AND I'm pissed....
Here's the reasons why I'm mad....
1. The nurses over in the Pediatric floors have toooo many patients per nurse, therefore the patients hardly get ANY attention, and the nurses are too busy messing with other people to pay any attention to MY baby.
2. The nurse I happened to have today is stupid. She tried to feed my baby through his GTube by gravity instead of by the feeding pump, therefore what would normally take one hour went into his little tummy in about five minutes. His tummy was hard as a rock, and you could tell he was in pain. She also couldn't figure out how to give his meds through the GTube without spilling his MUCH needed medication all over his bed.
3. I had to ask FOUR times for the people to get me some gas medicine for David. Next time I go up there, I'm bringing some from home. I don't care if they "let" me give it or not, I'm giving him some.
4. The respiritory therapist was not giving David CPT with his breathing treatments. I asked her about it, and she said that she was not supposed to. I begged to differ, so she went out and checked...and WHAT DO YOU KNOW??? He IS supposed to be getting it! Jesus. And now he's breathing way fast (like 80 breaths/minute) and I can't help but wonder if they had done what they were SUPPOSED to do he wouldn't be doing that.
5. All day long they were telling me that he was going home today. I even had Jr work for me today till six so that I would be there when it was time to take him home. And do I have him home? NOOOOOOOOO.
OK...I THINK that's all I'm mad about. If I remember anymore I'll update.
OH!!! I remembered another reason!! Noone was able to get his temperature under his arm ALL DAY LONG...so they had to poke him in his hiney FOUR times!
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02/07/06
We're home! (again haha)
We were discharged from the hospital this morning at about 9:30am...got home about 10am or so. YAY! And Stacy, one of our favorite nurses, the one who discharged us last time discharged us again! The only thing different is the amount of Lasix that we give him...the rest of the meds are the same. Oh, and he's taking a flu preventative med...I don't know much about it but I know that for some reason I have to give it to him orally instead of through his GTube and I can't shake the bottle hahaha.
Valerie (the home health nurse) came over at about 11:30, just in time for me to come to work.
I have a ton of super cute pictures that I will try & get posted tonight when I get home, assuming I have any time.
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OK here are LOTS of pictures....I know it's a bit repetitive but he's just so darn cute I can't pick just one!!!
Getting ready to go to the fateful doctor's appointment....apparently he knew something was up?? hahaha he's mad at something!
While getting David out of the car at the doctors office I saw something pretty neat & decided to take a picture:
David after being admitted to the hospital :( he looked so small in that big old hospital crib:
David's first Superbowl SUnday (which, for documentation purposes, the Steelers beat the Seahawks 21-10...just in case David wants to know when he gets older cause I couldn't care less) and I could NOT for the life of me get him to LOOK at the camera...I tried a million times...but all these pictures are so cute I couldn't decide on just one to post!!
In his "Someday I'll have a hairy chest" shirt that Cammi made me...she also made one that said "I can't read" and "I might barf" hahahahah
He's embarrassed hahahaha
Going home, in his little GUESS outfit! Rhonda from PW sent me this outfit, among others! That outfit also has a little gray jacket, and it is SO cute!!!
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02/08/06
Valentine Day Pictures
Sorry if you missed yesterdays pictures....they were great! If you did, click HERE.
OK everyone I did it! I took some "professional" looking pictures of David...or I did the best that I could, anyways :) Problem is, now I can't decide which ones I like the best....I want to have them printed out to give as Valentines Cards for my family...Help me decide!!
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02/12/06
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
David scared the crap outta me a few minutes ago. I had just finished giving him his breathing treatment, and I was giving his CPT (where you pat his back firmly to break up mucous to suck out) and he started crying. I figured he was just throwing a fit like he normally does...but I checked to make sure everything was okay, just in case....
And his GTube was BLEEDING!!! OMG! I PANICKED!
I called the nurse practitioner and she told me to wash it with half strength peroxide, blow dry it, put milk of magnesia on it, blow dry it, and cover it with gauze. She told me to watch it close and if it starts to become more inflamed call her back.
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02/14/06
David got his Mickey Button today!!!
YAY! No more incidents like the one we had last week!!! AND...David can wear a regular onesie, instead of always having to wear the ones that button up the front for the tube to stick out!! AND...he can take a REAL bath now!! AND he can have some MUCH needed tummy time!! AND...no more messes with the stupid syringes popping out, spilling formula & meds everywhere!! HURRAY!!!!
I haven't seen it yet, I had to work today so Javier & Valerie (the home health nurse) took him to the doctor. The doctor made Javier put it in!!! Javier said it was real easy to do, which is amazing to me...this is coming from the guy who says he doesn't want to suck out Davids nose.
I'm so freaking excited!! I'll have picture of it up soon!!!
Here's pics from online of what it is:
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Happy Valentines Day, everyone!! Javier & I don't have any plans...After I get off of work I get to go home & watch David while he goes to work. Not very romantic...but who has time for romance now? I hardly have time to brush my teeth.
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02/15/06
Another loooooooong day in the hospital :(
Tuesday night we noticed that David was starting to retract, so we called the on call nurse & she had us give him another breathing treatment with just the Xopenex....when that didn't work she told us to bring him into the office...this was about two am....when we got there he was only statting 89 so they admitted him...I don't really think that's too low but whatever.
Anyways, he's back in the hospital, hopefully not for very long...when I was holding him this morning he was statting a 100 so I don't know what the problem is...so I'm back with the stupid nurses who messed up so bad last time....and they've already pissed me off because they didn't want to feed him and they are starting an IV...which there's not a dang reason in the world why they can't feed him.....but I finally b*tched enough, and they are now feeding him two ounces every three hours, which is only half of what he normally gets but it's better than nothing. For the first four hours this morning he was frantic he was so hungry :(
So he's been fine all day long....(I really hate those stat monitors they have at the doctor's office) His stats have been high all day, and since they haven't changed anything (still on 1 liter of O2, still getting breathing treatments, etc) the doctor told me he should be home tomorrow unless something unforseen happens.
So...I really don't know what the problem is....I'm starting to think that I overreacted & he ended up getting admitted for no reason....since they aren't DOING anything except starving my poor baby.
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02/17/06
Still not home :(
Thanks to everyone who covered my shift yesterday....we are still not home from the hospital. Why? Because David has gas. No, I'm not kidding. She told me that this morning when they fed him the first time he seemed uncomfortable due to gas. There are, in my opinion (not that it matters, I'm ONLY his mom) several reasons why this happened.
1. Because, even though I told her not to, the nurse feeds him over a period of thirty minutes instead of an hour, like we do at home.
2. He is laying on a flat bed instead of a swing or something, like he gets fed at home.
So the nurse said they were "uncomfortable" sending him home like that. No, they aren't doing anything to treat him...not even gas drops. No, they aren't doing anything that I wouldn't be doing at home. No, he's not breathing fast, or hard, or statting low.
Apparently having gas is now considered life threatening.
On a good note, though, I talked to SS disability today, and apparently the maximum amount for our situation is $3100. That would be freaking awesome. I could afford to go part time, and we could move into a HOUSE....and we'd still have more money than we do now....I have an appointment on March 8th at 1:15pm. I have to bring his birth certificate and proof of income to the appointment, along with any medical records (the part I'm dreading is getting these) anyways...wish me luck!
EDIT - I got some wrong information. $3100 is the maximum amount that you can earn a month in order to qualify for even a partial check. The maximum benefit is $603.
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02/18/06
We're home (take three)
Finally we got to bring David home again. Geez, I hope this lasts more than a week. I'm SOOOOO tired of the stupid hospital! The doctors told me this morning that the reason they were waiting was because they wanted to make sure he was gaining weight, which really doesn't make any sense to me. Of course he's gaining weight...we went in there for respiritory problems!
Anyways, David's Mic-key site has a staph infection, so we have to put these drops on there three times a day...but that's the only thing that's different.
Pat came to visit us today!! Pat is our favorite night nurse from the NICU. She was always so sweet to both me & David, and I always found myself looking forward to Friday and Saturday nights because I knew she worked and I KNEW she'd pull whatever strings she had to in order to get David. She has his Christmas picture up on her kitchen island next to her daughter's pictures, she told me this morning. We love Pat!! So she came over after she got off of work this morning and sat & loved on David for a little while.
David is sooooo close to laughing now!!! He'll even make a sound & get excited when he smiles...it's so much fun!!! YAY!
We should be getting our income tax return soon....and with it I want to buy David a couple of things that I think he'll like...
"The Bumbo Seat is a snug and cozy environment for your baby. This revolutionary infant chair is designed to fit a baby’s posture. Babies can sit upright in a Bumbo Seat as soon as they have head control. More importantly, it helps them develop the trunk control they need to sit up on their own. It is recommended by pediatricians, orthopedists, and physical therapists so you know it is good for your baby. In fact, it is so good for your baby that the State of Illinois has approved the Bumbo as a medical device and the Mississippi State Department of Health is providing Bumbos for use by their therapists!"
"Playing and exercising on the tummy each day helps baby develop the upper body strength needed for crawling. Boppy Tummy Play’s smaller, compact size comfortably props baby, encouraging him to push up and support his weight on his arms and neck. Place baby on tummy so arms can reach over the pillow to play with the toys."
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OK I need some serious therapy. SO I take all these pictures of David, right...and then I'm stuck because I can't pick and chose because I like them ALL.....I need to join pa (photaholics anonymous) or something. Anyways, since I can't control my urges, here's the latest pictures:
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02/21/06
More Pictures :)
Comparison pictures!!!
Taken August 14, 2005:
Taken February 20, 2006:
August 14th:
February 20th:
Hehehe he's gotten so big!!!
Daddy had to change David's oxygen tubing yesterday, so I decided to take a few really quick pictures! (And nobody panic, the oxygen wasn't off of him for more than five seconds total)
Doesn't he look different without the oxygen on?
David has a problem - he can't read! He's not very happy about it, either.
Coming to terms with his illiteracy.
First bath with the Mic-Key button!! YAY! (And he was beginning to stink too...)
Getting ready:
In the bathtub:
All clean!!
OK....so yesterday the ECI lady came out to get all of his information. Soon a couple of different therapists will come out to assess him, and begin working with him to get him to where he needs to be developmentally!
APPARENTLY we had an appointment to get David's RSV shot yesterday...except they neglected to tell us (again!) so we missed it. We rescheduled it for next Monday at 10:45am.
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02/23/06
Good Drs Appointment!!!
David is up to ELEVEN pounds, FIVE ounces!!!
And he's 23.5 inches long!!!
He's still in the lower percentiles for his adjusted age...but he's growing nicely.
He's about two months old developmentally...when he should be almost four...but they aren't too concerned.
The good thing is he isn't back in the stinky old hospital.
And he got one of his four month vaccinations today....I think the Hep...he cried for a minute, and then was okay after that. I even ran out to the store before work to buy infant tylenol in case he got fussy...but when I got back home it wasn't even opened and David was fine!
Here are the latest pics:
Isn't he cute in his overalls?? awwwwwwww
And, we got a new mask for his breathing treatments....it's a dinosaur!! LOL he's so cute hee hee
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Funny update from tonight....So he starts crying...and I go check on him...and what do I find?
hee hee...I SWEAR I put him in the middle of the bed...and he even has the bendy to keep him still...but noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
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02/27/06
RSV shot
Javier & Valerie took David to get his RSV shot up at Texas Tech today. When they got there they wouldn't give David his RSV shot because they said he was only satting 84 & 85. So they called Dr. H. and he said go ahead & give him the shot, then send him to my office. When they got over to Dr. H.'s office he was satting 94! (WHEW!!!) I'm really beginning to hate those stupid oxygen saturation monitors. They always give a false reading. Everytime we go to the doctors office they get a false reading, and up scaring me! Also, when they weighed him over at TT he only weighed 11lb, 3oz, but when they got over to the ped's office he weighed 11lb, 8oz!
Anyways - so David finally got his RSV shot...hopefully it'll keep him from getting sick again! And I can't remember if I posted this or not, but they are finally allowing him to nipple feed 15ccs every three hours (that's 1/2 ounce)! YAY! And he does really well (for Valerie - not for me)...so hopefully we'll be able to work him up to his full feeds, and get that stupid tube out of his belly!!
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