104 days old...

In recovery... - March 27, 2009

First things first, check out this sweet post written by Crew's mom... love.it.

Because there is never enough time to make the phone calls I want to make, or write the messages I want to send, I'm trying to post information more timely online. You can follow Connor's progress with more frequent highlights in the right sidebar under "Connor's Chronicles", or in our status updates on Facebook. Sometimes it's easier to write a short blip there, rather than a long post.

Please know that if you have contacted us, or even dropped something by, you helped to make our day... we appreciate your efforts so much and apologize that we haven't gotten back to you... yet! For now, it's been a little more time-effective to do a blog post to answer the majority of the inquiries. We are touched that you care so much!

An update?
He's doing really well, all things considered. We're on Day 4 of negative blood cultures, so it appears he's beat the infection. Yippee yay! He'll remain on his antibiotics cocktail for about 2 more weeks.

After about 6 hours and 3 different attempts over 2 days, Connor finally got a new PICC line in the back of his left leg. Prior to the infection developing, he was only days away from having it removed completely. With this third line now in, he's got awhile to be weaned from his IV nutrition before it's pulled for good.

Connor was taken off the CPAP and put back on the nasal cannula Friday morning. He's been doing really well on room air, with a very light flow. I bet he'll kick the cannula by the middle of next week.

His night nurse said that she noticed significantly fewer alarms last night. Such.good.news.

He's up to 15ml per feed of the Pregestimil. We hope they're able to switch him back to the preemie formula soon. He doesn't seem to like the taste. Don't really blame him. Smells like bird poop.

His bum is healing. There's less bleeding, more scabbing, and some new skin growing. His nurses have been religiously following his butt plan of action, and it seems to be doing the trick. We've got some cute shots of Connor mooning one and all...

Airing out his "issues" - March 27, 2009

Not sure if they'll be "graduating" Connor to the step-down nursery anytime soon, if at all. We're okay with the extra attention for now. Not sure if we'll continue to be consulted on his nursing assignments, but it wouldn't surprise me if we were. It's just easier when you know which nurse will be on him next, and that you're comfortable with them taking care of your baby.

We believe Connor caught this infection because he's in the hospital. (Just like I caught the two I had during my stays.) We desperately need him to get stronger so he can come home and avoid what happened to him this past week.

Hospitals are some of the germiest places on the planet... after all, that's where people go when they get sick, right? Whenever I see the lobby full of extended families, including infants and children, waiting for someone to give birth, I cringe. (Maybe someone should stay home and babysit??) Precautions are taken, and there are sterile environments, but it's not foolproof.

Brian and I are completely drained, but we've got to keep it all together for Connor. We're back to being present for each waking feed - 8am, 12pm, 4pm, & 8pm. We have another Family Conference on Tuesday, where we hope to see a plan for discharge clearly outlined, so we have solid goals to strive for.

Connor can come home on oxygen, NG feeds, thickener, special formula, monitors, etc.. He'll have to show that he's able to tolerate the appropriate feeding volume (around 70 ml per feed), and then gain weight two days in a row. We're confident he can do this.

We don't know how much this week's events set Connor back, as far as a discharge date. Prior to getting sick, he was likely coming home at the end of this week.

We just hope it's soon.