The Week that Lasted FOREVER

I suppose a Baby Harper update is in order.
And since I am finally back to the real world, I have a lot to catch up on.

So, Tuesday night, BH's breathing machine wasn't working right.
And it was stressing me OUT!
The only reason I left the hospital that night is because our favorite nurse
was there and we knew she would take care of him.

Wednesday night wasn't much better.
He was on the CPAP mask and he hates it.
It's big and bulky and honestly, it just pisses him off makes him mad.
We noticed several times that afternoon that he would quit breathing, more than normal.

BH, like most preemies his "age", has sleep apnea.
He randomly forgets to breathe.
We have been told that he will grow out of this around week 34-36.
so we are counting the days until this happens. (He is at 32 weeks now.)

So it's normal for him to stop breathing some and then correct it himself
with no assistance. But we found out that Wednesday night/Thursday
morning around 2 AM, he was doing it often. He also wasn't recovering
on his own and he was not being active.

If you knew Harper, you would know that he is super active at all times.
He even moves in his sleep.

I forgot to warn you that this is going to be a pretty long story.

So, Thursday morning when I get to work, I call to check on him like normal.
The nurse doesn't answer.
Then our favorite nurse calls with an update.
They had to move him from CPAP to the non-evasive vent.
He does really well on this vent, but it's still a step backwards.
His CO2 levels (which we keep track of every day and are normally in the
the 50s) was in the 60s.
They were afraid that he might have an infection.
So their plan was to move him to vent and then check his CO2 again in
30 minutes.

At that point, I decided to leave work.
I was so upset about this backwards step that I knew I had to be there.
Little did I know, it was about to get a lot worse.

 

Leave work and come save me Mama!!

So I met FH at the hospital and we walked in together.
We were stopped before we got to BH's room and told that they were intubating him
so we couldn't go in his room.
This means that within the time I got the phone call and the time that I had reached the
hospital (around 30 minutes), he had gotten worse.
His CO2 was 99! Which is out of control!
They were putting the tube back in his throat for the ventilator.
Another step backwards.

I cried. And I cried, and I cried.
It was just so devastating.
We didn't know what was wrong and we didn't know how bad it was.
We just had to sit in a room alone and stare at each other.
And try not to think the worse.

After probably losing 10 lbs from crying so much, we got to see him.
And I slowly began to think that it wasn't the end of the world.
We would be okay, he was tough.

We had to leave that afternoon to go get the girls ready for Halloween.
Their dad said he would take them out that night, but their costumes
were at our house so we had no choice.
We also needed to pack a bag to come back and spend the night with BH.

The girls were so upset that we weren't taking them to see BH.
They wanted to show off their costumes to the nurses, which I know
doesn't sound that fun but we have gotten to know the people there.
And so the girls were upset about the change in plans.

So back to the hosptial we go.
Only to be stopped in the hallway AGAIN before getting to his room.
The doctor was in there putting a catheter in.
Poor baby. If you know how tiny he is, then you can imagine how tiny
his parts are that would need a catheter....

We waited, and we waited.
Finally the doctor came to us and told us they were finished and
the nurses would come get us soon so we could see him.
And then we waited, and we waited.
FH went to check out what was going on....
And the doctor told him that they found out that his PICC line was infected.
So they had to remove it immediately, that's what was taking so long.

A PICC line is, well I'm no doctor so I don't know exactly, but it's basically
a glorified IV that doesn't have to be replaced often.
It is easily infected though because it's an open line and the line goes all
the way to his heart, where as an IV is just super short.
Or so that's what I have gathered....don't quote me or anything.

So how they test for infection is they take blood to the lab and watch it
to see if any bacteria grows. They took blood from his ankle (where the PICC
line was), from his wrist, and they also tested his urine.

The blood from the PICC line grew bacteria first.
We later found out that the blood from the wrist and urine both had
bacteria as well. This means the infection was all throughout his body.

Back to Thursday night.
We were told that it would be a really rough night for Harper.
Happy Halloween!
And so we expected the worse.
He was already on antibiotics at this point, because they start them immediately.

Fast forward to Friday morning, the doctor said he was on the upswing.
They couldn't believe how quickly he recovered.
He didn't have that bad of a night and the same happened Friday night.

I have no doubt that prayers were answered.

BH still has the infection, or at least he is still on the antibiotics.
He will have to take them for 21 days.
But he improved so quickly, that they extubated him almost a day later. (Took tube out of throat.)
Doctors that weren't even treating him were coming by to assess him because they had seen his chart
and were so amazed at his quick turn around.

He looks healthy now.
He is back to moving and trying to pull his tubes out, typical Harper behavior.

We are anxious to have this whole thing behind us, but are so grateful that what could have been
a HORRIBLE infection, was discovered super early. Since it was discovered super early and since apparently BH has a super strong immune system, he fought back like a champ.

So, so grateful for all of your prayers and well wishes.
And I'm grateful that it was time to "fall back" an hour this weekend, we really needed it!

 

We have really got to work on this pancake head. He hates to lay on his back so his head looks like a pancake!

Don't worry Harper, we love you and your little (big) pancake head! :)

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