Some Perspective

Jaxson holding my finger....You can see how tiny he is.

He had a good day today. One of his Doctors called me today and said that they did another ultrasound on his brain to check for bleeding. They grade this on a scale from 1 to 4. For grades 1 and 2, they don't worry about it...the tissue will absorb the blood and there is no intervention done by the doctors. However, for grades 3 and 4, we would have some severe and possibly permanent problems. So, obviously, we don't ever want to see a 3 or a 4.

Jaxson had none again. Good news.

They were concerned this week because he's been experiencing lots of A's and B's. There are typically three reasons why a baby will have these:

1. Prematurity. Just not developed enough yet to remember all the time to breathe. This should improve with age. Also, they get tired and worn out and forget.
2. Infection. They are constantly taking blood and mixing it with a solution that will cause any bacteria or fungus to grow up in it indicating that there is an infection in the body. The infection, if any, will be treated with antibiotics.
3. Reflux. The stomach isn't handling food and some is coming up causing apneas.

Because Jaxson is already on antibiotics, they are not finding infection. They will, however be taking him off pretty soon. There is always a chance that he will get an infection. If he does, they should be able to catch it and treat it.

The doctor told me this morning that looks, in Jaxson's case, to be that he is just really young and premature. They will continue to test for infection. They have put him back on the nasal tube ventilator so that he can get some rest. Having A's and B's makes babies tired. Being on the CPAP makes him tired. So, they are holding feeding (he is still get IV nutrients) for a couple of days as well to give him a rest.

Today, he was sleeping and looked very restful. His color looks lovely.

I held his hand with my finger and he also did something quite funny with his finger once I put his hand down.....Picture number 1, above. That's my boy.

All and all, it was a good day. It makes all the other 'not so good' days go away.