His vent tube was taken out yesterday. He has a nasal O2 tube under/in his nose. He's about 2 weeks old. Such good news.
I picked up some info for the family. I had lunch yesterday with my small college alum group. The retired OB/GYN had several patients with HELLP syndrome. She said the main thing to watch on the preemie was the O2 feed. Too much can effect their vision. I passed that on to my cousin, who may already know.
All right! Thanks for the update!
An update. Baby boy will be two months old in another week. He's now gaining weight and weighs four pounds. Today things are looking good, though.
He's had several set backs. Thinking about telling the story is making me so angry, it's taken sometime to set down and tell the story here.
First he contracted an infection - Serratia. The baby's grandmother (my cousin) and my sister both work in the medical field. They know this infection, according to studies, is mostly from poor hand hygiene of medical staff. My cousin gave the baby's parents the third degree about their hand hygiene around the baby. The short of it, the baby's mother had a fit with the hospital staff. She had been told by the hospital that the baby was being moved out of regular NICU to make more room for other babies. Then she and the father found the baby moved to ISOLATION. That's when they found out about the infection. The mother accused the nursing staff of making her baby sick. Not a pretty scene. A formal complaint may still be made about the misinformation given to the baby's parents. The mother has been busy taking names and checking more frequently with her mother the nurse.
Second the baby wasn't gaining any weight. His blood sugar is low. Sister and cousin asked me to ask my doctor friend about it. I was told it was fairly common for a preemie to have low blood sugar, but usually other issues are more pressing. The baby was later put on a drug for hyper insulin levels, and a drug to counter any edema caused by the first drug. About half the babies with this problem remain on the drug for hyper insulin levels.
This is when they found the next issue.
Third the baby has two new bacterial infections contracted while in isolation. One is VRE. Sister hasn't been told the species of the second infection.
As cousin understands it, the infection team is now retraining the staff on infection control. About f'ing time! Why should anyone contract so many infections in a hospital setting?
Today we're relieved the baby is responding to the antibiotics and is gaining weight again.
The world can continue to rotate.
Thank Heaven he's doing well despite the terrifying decline in competent hospital care. No wonder you've been angry!
May God bless him with full and rapid recovery, ever increasing strength and progress, and a thriving future of excellent health. 🙏❤
@elsa Thank you.
The ped doc told the mom it was good the baby had an advocate. I did a hand count and came up with 8 people that are either immediately connected or consulted on his care. Those are only the ones that I know.
Maybe it's good his mom has a temper.
Another update. Yesterday, Baby boy was moved out of ICU isolation and into the intermediate nursery. He's no longer considered critical. Yeah!
He's off the supplemental air. He's taking a bottle. The pictures show he still has a feeding NG tube. His dad works in the same city and can stop by daily. His dad has been feeding the baby his bottle for a while now.
Baby is just past 2 months old. He's had a rough time.
As a preemie mom I feel your pain! My friend had a 26 wheeler who survived and is thriving