Day 1

I know that technically, since it is 3:46 a.m., that it is day 2, but I did not have time to update yesterday. Now, some may ask, "What are you doing up at 3:46 a.m., updating a blog"? Well I'm pumping and updating at the same time. Good multitasking skills, right?

When we went to visit Parker first thing in the morning we were happily surprised that his vent had been lowered quite a good bit. When Parker first made his debut his ventilator rate was set at 40. From what I remember of my hazy tutorial, this means that Parker's lungs needed 40 breaths per minute. Now it has been lowered to a rate of 20. That is a huge step in the right direction. Also, at first his vent was set at 60% and we were told that they would ween him down very slowly. This morning when we arrived it had been lowered all the way to 34%! We were amazed! Now, it has had to go back up a little bit since then, but he's also had a lot going on.

All of his kidney levels early this morning came back well within normal range and they are still monitoring his sodium levels to make sure they are increasing. Still no pee diaper. :(  He has had plenty of poop diapers, though, because today they started feeding him 2 cc's of breast milk every 6 hours! How awesome is that? As you can see, I was excited!

His blood platelets came back a little low. The lowest they would allow his platelets to get is 30,000 and his were at 36,000. His neonatologist decided that since it had been slowly getting lower all morning that they would do a transfusion before he got to 30,000. Parker did very well with it and didn't even get too fussy. We will find out how much this helped and how his platelets are doing at 5 a.m. when they run the rest of his labs.

His bilirubin levels were not too bad, but just to be safe the doctor gave him some time under the lamp. Parker loved it! He was so calm and relaxed the entire time, that we joked with the nurses that he thought he was laying out on a beach.

Jason says he is relaxing with his shades!

Overall today was good day. Although it does sound like he had a few set backs, he also had a ton of improvements as well. His doctor is very aggressive when it comes to his treatment. We actually appreciate that and prefer it that way. He takes care of things before they get to a point that is bad for Parker.

Once again thanks to everyone for the outpouring of support, prayers, and all of the Congratulations messages! We have an amazing set of friends and family! Please continue to pray for Parker as much as possible. Although he is showing his strength, he still has a long way to go before we are out of the woods.