Continuing medical concerns

When you spend a lot of time in a NICU you see a lot of very sick babies. There are both babies that have just been born and need a ton of very special care and babies that are growing up in the NICU because they have medical problems that prevent them from going home. We feel for the babies and the families and someimes I even feel guilty for having a baby that is doing so well!

Jac does have some ongoing medical issues that are have not yet been resolved. The one that concerns me the most (although the doctors don't seem too concerned) are his electrolyte levels.

When Jac was admitted to TCH his phosphorous level was so low it was unmeasurable. Since then with supplementation his phosphorous level came up to an acceptable level. Unfortunately since he reached that level and the level of supplementation has been decreased his phosphorous level has drifted back downwards. Today they gave him a bolus of sodium phosphate to bring his level back up.

This then begs the question - where is the phosphorous going? They collected some urine this afternoon to see if he is excreting it in his urine. If he is we need to talk to the Renal doctors to figure out if there are problems with his kidneys (he has had an ultrasound of his kidneys and they look good - but this is not a guarantee of their function). If he is not excreting it out in his urine then we need to talk to the Endocrinologists to figure out what is funky in his metabolism that he is losing phosphorous.

The "phosphorous question" has been an open one since he was born and it continues to be an open question and one that needs to get resolved.

Other than that he is doing really well.

Since yesterday at 1:30 pm he has been receiving trophic (non-nutrition) feeds of 1 ml of my milk every hour and he has been tolerating it (meaning when they check his stomach contents before the next feed it no longer contains milk from the previous feed. This is a great sign and if he continues this way they will start increasing his feeds and start counting them towards his nutrition.

He is also doing really well from a respiratory standpoint. He is on the nasal cannulae and his respiration rate and blood oxygenation levels are in a good range most of the time. When he gets agitated (almost always when the nurse or Mom or Dad are performing cares (diaper etc.) sometimes he has a bit of a desaturation and/or a elevated respiratory rate. Once we finish the cares and get him tucked back in and cosy all of his stats settle back down and he goes back to sleep happy as a little lamb.