222nd Day in the NICU

Dr M is so pleased with Drayke this week. He has continued to wean him on his Milrinone and his O2 is now at 66%, nitric is at 10. Little man does have an infection but he is not acting sick at all. Doc changed him over to Ampicillin and we are thinking we have caught it in time to prevent the bug from getting bad.

Because of this infection and the blood draws that are being done with the broviac there is a strong probability that the line may be infected. Dr M does not want to have to pull the line because he is still needing a higher volume line for his meds. He has done some research and has found that an infusion of 70% alcohol going thru the line at a slow rate will kill bacteria in the line. We are talking only 1cc. He is doing more research on this. I told him that I am just wanting to make sure there are no nasty side effects since the end of the line termintes just outside of his heart. Last thing we need to do is give Drayke a heart attack or something.

Yesterday we wore Drayke out by giving him a nice soapy bath which he loved. While I was washing his back I really noticed how we have to start working on his head shape. Having a bit of toaster head (kinda square) is normal in the NICU. The problem is the back of his head is a bit wedge shaped. He is not laying on the back of his head enough, mostly he sleeps with it to one side or another. So working with the nurses we are going to try to get this as corrected as possible. I dressed him for the first time since Halloween and held him for an hour. Tried something a bit different though. Rather than having him laying in my arms I had him in a seated position facing away from me with his head on my chest. He promptly fell asleep but the nurse was pleased with this change in position. He does need to be sitting up more.

When we put him back to bed he needing to get a new peripheral blood draw which made Drayke very grumpy but he never once desatted. Later that evening I was talking to his 2nd shift nurse and mentioned how I am wanting to try to get him in his bouncy seat. She said ok, lets do it now. The last time we tried it didnt go so well because he was starting to get sick from that last staph infection. This time it was an absolute success. He was in the seat for a little more than 2 hours and was just a happy lil camper. I am going to try to make this a once a day thing.

Oh, one thing I almost forgot. Drayke has not needed a PRN (sedation other than his scheduled meds) for more than 48 hours! This is huge. When he does get upset he is no longer dropping his saturations. He is staying in the 90s.

This has been a good week. I have decorated his hospital room a bit with some gel window clings, small yule tree and garland on his crib. His Christmas outfit is all washed and ready for when Santa comes to the hospital later this month.