Hospital Day 2

Night 1 was pretty rough. My sister Brandi was kind enough to stay with me until 2am to allow for some sleep. From then on, sleep was in 15-20 minute increments between staff coming in and Owen needing comforted. All the staff watched him very closely as he was tottering on the edge of being shipped to Portland. We have the same evening shift nurse today and she admitted that she was very worried, thought about him a lot while she was home today, and was almost positive he was going to be transferred through the night.

At around 6am they titrated his high flow oxygen up to 6 Liters, which is the maximum amount allowed. This increase slowly started to work it's magic by helping force open the tiny sacs in his lungs which exchange oxygen. My dad complained that he had no idea what I was talking about in my last blog so here is a picture.

The air blows up the alveoli like a balloon.. the more surface area they have, the more room there is for oxygen exchange

From 6am on he started to slowly improve. They were able to turn down his percentage of oxygen from 50% to 30% and his respirations were finally under 80. The physician rounded on him at 9am and further expressed that although he is looking a little bit better, he was still very much on the edge of needing transferred. When a decision is made to move from Riverbend to Portland, Portland sends their own ambulance to pick Owen up. So at a minimum it would be 4 hrs before he was under their complete care. Transfers like this always go smoother when they're done under controlled circumstances. In short... she was leaning towards transferring him before things got really bad in order to avoid a chaotic and stressful transfer. (Everyone is still under the impression that based off the "typical" course of RSV that his worst days are yet to come.) Jesse had yet to arrive as he spent the night at home with the kids. The physician waited for him to come in and allowed us time to talk things over. We decided it would be best to have him transferred to avoid any complications and give Owen the best care possible. She returned around 10am and we were prepared to tell her to ship him. However, she had great news that Riverbend's NICU had graciously offered to accept Owen as a patient if he became worse. Typically they don't take 3 week old babies and definitely not "dirty" babies with RSV who could potentially infect the actual newborns who are very susceptible to infections. After holding in our emotions for so long Jesse and I finally had a good cry and showed that maybe we weren't as strong as we act; the physician decided to share a couple tears with us. We felt very relieved that if things become worse, Owen could be quickly moved somewhere for a higher level of care. We collectively made a plan to keep Owen where he was and re-evaluate him around lunchtime.

Our Little Man has continued to surprise everyone and is doing so much better. He has precious moments of alertness where he can show us his pretty blue eyes and make his cute little faces. His flow of oxygen is down to 2 Liters and his oxygen percentage is 30. That is back down to what he needed when he first arrived. So he's not necessarily better than when he came in, but he's better than he was at his worst. Also, after going almost 12 hrs without breastfeeding he was able to take a small amount of pumped milk from a bottle. This makes his Mama very happy as it just doesn't seem right for a tiny baby to go so long with an empty stomach.

The physician is very optimistic about his progress and was genuinely a little shocked. We are hoping for a good night and continuing improvements... even if they come slowly. That you all for the power in your prayers and all the offers for help. We are so lucky to have a great set of family and friends that we can call upon when needed. All the grandmas, grandpas, and aunties have been helping share the load of our other two rug rats. Our time away from them will be hard for all but playing with cousins always make it go by faster. Both kids were able to visit this morning and were so precious with Owen. They told us to prepare for a week in the hospital but hope for less. Thank you again!