Doctor Doom

Today I went to the NICU early so that I could help with Witten's bath. I called ahead of time and told the lady at the front desk when I was coming. When I got there, a new nurse to Witten was there. I'm not a fan. She was unable to really answer any questions I had and directed me to the doctor. The doctor was also new to Witten. She had never seen him before but was quick to tell me that he has a lung disease. I asked if it was permanent, and she said that he would have it until he's a couple of years old. Then she said that he would probably go home on the nasal cannula, and that we couldn't take him to daycare, stores, the mall, or church. I told her that I worked out a deal with a lady that only has 1-2 kids. She reiterated NO DAYCARE, and said that those kids would pass on all kinds of family germs. She also said he would probably be sick a lot for a couple of years.

When she was done breaking my spirit with this news, she proceeded to tell me that he had gained too much weight this week, and they were going to put him on something that starts with a L to get some water weight off. She also said she would decrease the amount of breast milk he gets, and increase the calories they add to it. This will keep him from getting as much fluid.

They ran tests yesterday on him and his blood came back negative for infection, but his urine came back positive. They will be running tests on his kidneys to see what's going on.

He has outgrown the amount of caffeine they have been giving him, so they are going to increase it a little. He should be off of it soon...whatever that means!

I had a hard time holding myself together for the rest of my visit. This all happened at the beginning. I stayed composed all the way home, got annoyed by some things here, realized I forgot to take his milk to him, and broke down. I called my principal who went through the same NICU with her son a 18 months ago, and she talked me off the ledge. I felt much better when I hung up the phone.

Since everyone loves pictures, here are a few.

Here's Witten with his new quilt from Grandma.

Here he is helping hold his Cpap on instead of ripping it off like usual.

And this was after he got put back on the nasal cannula.