Bugs

I am going to write a quick update, because if I don't I will fall way behind and it will be too much to catch up on.

Natalie has been slowly creeping up in her O's. She went for 30-40's to 40-50's. It was a very slow progression and not overly alarming (to the doctors). We were worried but trying to ride it out in hopes of it being a normal bump in the road. On Thursday she had an incredible blood gas (CO2 in the 40's!) and they went down by 0.2 rather than the usual 0.1. This brought her power to 3.1 and she has been held there since Thursday. Her CO2 after the change has only been acceptable.

Today when I called in the morning I mentioned our concerns to the nurse. When I arrived at the hospital her O2 was 59% so when the attending (his first day on rotation) came in to update me I mentioned my worries to him. A short bit after he left our favorite fellow, Yesef, came by to take out her PCS line. I bugged him and he decided to replace her ET tube. She was last reintubated on July 27th so it was getting old, especially by Natalie's standards.

The tube was actually in decent shape, a minor disappointment for me. I was hoping to attribute her recent issues to a very coated tube. The X-ray to check tube placement showed her lungs to be a little wet. He was going to order an extra dose of Lasix until I said she had just received her normal dose just a half hour prior. They decided to wait until midnight and see what her O2 requirement was then.

Time flies in the NICU. I had brought in a cooler of milk only to find that their freezer was down and they could not take it. I debated going right back home to get it back in our freezer but I did not want to leave before I harassed enough doctors. Soon hours had passed and I needed to get home to Anneliese. We had promised her a trip to the park and I had the car seat. It is so hard having two children under separate roofs. Luckily the milk survived being in the cooler so long and did not defrost much. It would have been hours and hours of pumping lost (nursing mothers will understand this).

I called around 9:30 tonight and her O2 was down to 50%. She had been resting comfortably all day.

At 11:00PM the phone rang. U of R. I answered with the vain hope that it was a request for more milk. No. It was her doctor. Natalie has a fever, and a pretty high one. She went a whole 6 hours without needing venous access. They are running a CRP and CBC. They are culturing her blood and urine, and since I reminded them her tube is brand new they are also doing a trach aspirate. In the meantime, it is back on the vanco and gent.

It is an odd thing to have a doctor call to tell you your child has a fever. I am supposed to be calling her pediatrician to let them know, not the other way around. We are living in such a strange world right now.

So....now we hope that this has been brewing for a few days and the reason her O2 is creeping up.

I will update when I know more.

On a side note, Annie came in to visit Natters on Wednesday. It was very sweet. Annie gets so excited over Natalie's cuteness gushes quite a bit. While Annie was watching Natalie started to squirm and make faces. This stunned big sister, who said "She's moving! Why is she moving?!" Ha! I think up until that point she had only seen her sleeping soundly. I don't think she realized she was capable of moving.