Sunday, March 13, 2011

Davis is spending the day at the beach

Today started out a little rough, but everything is looking up again now.  Kelly and I got to the hospital early this morning thinking we may see his ventilator tube come out, but that didn't end up happening due to his lungs having so little space to function.  They were doing trials through the night with him to see how he would tolerate less help from the ventilator, and evidently he's not quite ready. His heart is wall to wall which only leaves a few small pockets for his lungs.  They're saying that even though there isn't much room there, his lungs could still work just fine, he just needs time to prove that he can do it.  Being premature and having a huge heart squishing the lungs in utero have all made it tough for him, but he's doing better than expected.   They've reduced the number of breaths per second that the ventilator provides from 30 on Friday to 12 now, and he's doing the rest on his own.  They plan to continue testing him by reducing the ventilator from time to time which exercises his lungs and will help them mature.  So, for now the tube stays in.  He also had his first Arrhythmia this morning which was pretty scary for Kelly and I, but very common in babies with Ebsteins.  His heart rate got up to 220 and would not go back down, so there were lots of people who came over and they hooked him up to a monitor to record the rhythms.  Eventually they gave him a drug that stopped the cycle and he calmed down shortly after that...and then got some morphine to let him truly rest for a while.  He also had a little Jaundice this morning, so he's spending the next few days under the bright lights to resolve that problem.  Here's a photo of his cool shades.

We just spoke to the docs about how he's doing and all in all they're very pleased and positive.  I'm learning that there is no easy resolve to anything in the CICU though, and this will be a long process of trial and error to get everything stable.  They need to learn more about how his body is working, what he can tolerate and how to best treat his specific issues one by one.  The staff here has been truly amazing and takes lots of time to make sure we're comfortable and understand everything that is happening.  The main cardiologist in the CICU just spent 45 min drawing us pictures and walking us through how and why these things happen and how they're treating everything.  It's very comforting to better understand all the complicated things they're discussing.  For now, Davis is sleeping soundly and Kelly and I are just hanging out to be near him.  I'm looking forward to holding him again soon, but it may have to wait till he's out from under the bright lights in a day or two.  Till then we'll be soothing him from the sidelines.

4 comments:

Maureen said...

Thanks for the update on our favorite little guy! His shades do look pretty cool! :) So glad to hear you have a wonderful team of doctors/medical professionals taking you all step by step through Davis journey. Big hugs from Chicago!

Margaret said...

He needs a little Jimmy Buffet and island music. Tell him Aunt Margaret can't wait to meet him. Prayers for his growing strength are with you.

Kendall said...

Harrison had the cool shades, too. He had high billirubin levels for about a week after he was born. I feel for you because I know how heartbreaking it is to not be able to comfort your baby because he has to stay under the lights. I know you guys are doing so well staying strong. We're praying for you and (obviously) checking your blog!
with Love,
Kendall and Terrence

Kendall said...

P.S. A lactation consultant in NICU told us that we could put the "blanket" with the lights in it on our chest, put the baby on the blanket, and shine the lights on us so that we could hold him at the same time. I don't know if that would be as easy with Davis because I'm sure he's hooked up to about a dozen more things than Harrison was but I wonder if it's something you could suggest to your nurse? Just a thought....