Wednesday, May 7, 2008

I am back up here with my baby boy today and wanted to hand out another update. Tomorrow will mark 30 weeks gestation. He is weighing in at a WHOPPING 940 grams or should I convert it to 2 pounds 1 ounce. Who would've known I could ever convert grams to pounds. The things you learn with a micro preemie.



As I mentioned in my last entry, they had to put Hunter back on an antibiotic cocktail. They thought that he may have pneumonia. His chest x-rays were not looking so well. They sent cultures to the lab. The cultures came back negative. They took him off the antibiotics – all three of them - and we were able to take a sigh of relief. They are chalking it up right now to immature lungs and the possibility of a chronic lung disease. Again, the chronic lung disease might last him through infancy and early childhood – but his lungs will regenerate themselves as he gets older.
The main concern right now is still his stomach and intestinal issues. The perforation is wrecking havoc. A nurse told me that the specialist was coming over from U of M today. I didn’t want to miss him. So, I was here bright and early. The Neonatologist told me that she was very worried about this stomach, with the worst case being surgery on a critically ill infant. (Back to holding my breath again)
They are also winging him off his morphine. It seems that my little preemie has quite a little drug dependency problem. I was joking with the nurse and they said it was real. They have to slowly turn down the morphine because of his dependency. HELLO - he is only 29 weeks gestation. I guess when you have been on morphine your entire life it’s to happen - no long turn effects. I told them that I would gladly trade places with Hunter and take the morphine. They didn't take me up on the offer. Hey, at least I tried.