Thanksgiving Weekend Update

On Saturday Will was very touchy and sensitive to voices and other noises in the NICU. The nurse determined his hematocrit was low and the doctor ordered another blood transfusion, which is normal since they are taking so much blood for tests, etc. After the transfusion he was definitely feeling better.

One thing (out of many) they are watching closely is his creatinine, which correlates to his kidney function. This result has been slowly decreasing, which is good, but on Saturday is was back up... and that was not welcoming news. Because of this, the doctor ordered an emergency ultrasound of the kidneys... which came back normal. They also inserted a catheter and no urine passed. The only other "easy" answer they were hoping for was possible dehydration... so after the transfusion we were hoping for good urine output... and the little guy pee'd like a wild man. This was great news and tells us that, indeed, his kidneys are working and overnight his creatinine decreased.

Also during the night, Will's arterial line was removed. This line has been in since he was born and needs to be changed out. Since his veins are so little, the attempt at reinserting it into another location was not successful. The arterial line serves a couple purposes. The line was running into his left foot and in some of the pictures you may see a board taped to his little leg, this is where the line is. This line allows to draw blood and also monitors his blood pressure. The blood pressure readings have been a bit off and the wave line on the monitor has been going in and out, so it is time to remove it... as this point, since they were not able to get a new line, they are manually reading his blood pressure with a tiny little blood pressure cuff. The line needs to be replaced but will be "ok" if it is out for a day or so.

This morning during our visit I was able to do Kangaroo Care again. For some reason, I felt much more stressed this time around than the first time and I am not sure why. Of course, the time spent with him laying on my chest was awesome. According to the nurse working his case, she will be on day shift for the next couple of days and said we can do Kangaroo Care each day (thanks Angela!). Every chance we get to do this type of holding has proven to help him greatly.

Let's hope for another great week. Please keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming! He still has a long road ahead of him, and with your support, he will surprise us all!