Wow! So many updates

I miss updates for one day and everything changes.  First I'm going to try to remember all the updates for yesterday, then I'll post the updates for today.

So, I called in yesterday early morning before we went the the hospital and found out that Ben's Biliruben levels had jumped (they had gone from 8.5 to 10.5 the day before) from 10.5 to 12.6.  Having a buildup of biliruben in the blood affects the liver and causes a yellowing of the skin.  Left untreated it can cross over from the blood stream into the brain and cause long term damage (levels are usually in the mid to upper 20's for this to happen).  UV light breaks up the biliruben and it exits the body through waste (liquid or solid).  When he is under the UV light we can't hold him and he has to have a shield on his eyes all day that is pretty uncomfortable for him.

Ben had an IV in his foot and also had to have a lot of blood taken for a renal panel so they ended up also starting an IV in his left arm to get enough blood.  They wanted to leave it open so that they had one when the IV in his foot went bad.  (his IV's go bad often b/c the TPN and Lipids - the nutrients and fats he gets through his IV- are hard on his veins).  Both IV's ended up going bad around the same time so they had to start an IV in his head.  The blood vessels in the head are close to the surface so it makes for a good place for an IV, but it was very rough on Ben.  It was taped down well but he kept trying to scootch himself around in his isolette to try and rub it off.

I think this was the day that they started Ben on his blood pressure medication.  It has been running high since birth.  He gets a dose every 6 hours if the mean of his top and bottom number is 75 or greater. 

Ben did start on bottle feedings at his 2am.  He took 10 of the 15ml.  He did very well for his first bottle feed.  The rest is fed through his gavage (the tube that runs through his nose down to his stomach).  Bottle feeds really wear him out and he ends up sleeping for hours afterwards.  I was able to bottle feed him at 2pm.  He took 5ml ( I don't have the skill that the nurses do yet and feeding/burping a preemie is VASTLY different than a full term baby).  While I was feeding, Ben looked up at Jamie and I and smiled.  The nurse said it was just gas but he didn't burp or anything.  Then a few more minutes he did it about 3 more times and seemed to kind of chuckle.  When the nurse checked to see if there was air in his tummy there was none.  We are claiming that as his first smile.  Wish we had the camera out!!  I think that's all for March 4th.

Now today's updates.  We got to the hospital around 7am and found out that Ben's biliruben count had dropped to 8.9.  It has to be 8.5 or less for the light to come off.  The night shift nurse said that he had a really good poopy diaper (he hadn't had one in 2 days) and then had a small one later on.  This could account for the drastic drop in the biliruben.  At his 8am feed/change Jamie bottle fed him and did really well.  I was changing the diaper and put the clean one under the dirty, then opened and pulled the dirty one out.  I looked away to grap a wipe and looked back and there was a spot of poop in it.  I was so confused b/c I was sure that I had put the clean one down.  Then Jamie said that he was going to the bathroom.  I was so confused then I realized that he said he was still going to the bathroom, he was peeing up the side of the isolette, all over Jamie's hand and almost onto his bedding.  It was hilarious.  The nurse had to help us clean it up b/c I didn't really know where to start.  Lesson for today, work quickly, cover quickly.

Then we went to grab breakfast and went back to Ben's room.  The doctor's came through for their rounds.  The resident was giving her assessment and said that even though blood tests are usually only done at 2am that she was considering taking blood in the afternoon to see if Ben's Bili level was low enough to discontinue photo-therepy.  The senior doctor said that since his level was 8.9 and he had had 3 bowel movements that further blood tests were not needed and the light was turned off...yay!!!

Towards the end of the day I was sitting by Ben's isolette and he turned onto the arm where his IV was while he was sleeping.  It was so cute.  But about 10 minutes later I notice his arm was all puffy.  I touched his hand and it was cold.  I called the nurse over and she said that they IV had gone bad.  She paged the on-call resident and was told to discontinue the TPN starter (had been changed from TPN to TPN starter at the 5pm feed to start to transition him over to only bottle feeds) and remover the IV.  They would see how he did through the night and decide if he would need another IV or not.  If he doesn't do well he will get another IV tomorrow.  If he doesn't get an IV I think he can start wearing clothes!!