Baby Eagan - NICU Day 40 - Forty Days and Forty Nights

And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. Genesis 7:12

And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. Mark 1:13

Then Moses disappeared into the cloud as he climbed higher up the mountain. He remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. Exodus 24:18

And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights Exodus 34:28

Forty days and forty nights is a common transitional period in the Bible - forty days of fasting, or forty days of raining. Eagan has had his forty days. I pray that he can now have forty days of rest and healing. I have had my forty days. My faith has been tested every day, but each day, I have tried my hardest to look at the positives and believe. On the days that I had a really hard time believing, I was given reminders.

The day Eagan was transferred to Egleston was hard. His health was declining fast. Before his surgery, the doctors told us there was a very strong possibility that nothing could be done and we would need to take him off life support. He went into surgery and I cried for the first time I had cried since the day he was born. While I was waiting for Eagan to get out of surgery, I got a text from one of our very favorite nurses. She found his dinosaur blanket that had been missing since he was born. At that point I knew he would be okay. His blanket was found and he would make it out of surgery to use it.

This morning, Eagan was having a really hard time. His ventilator settings were very high and most of his medications had to be increased. He is also much more swollen today. By tonight, he appears to be doing a little better. I pray that our forty days are done and he will continue to improve. His nurse today has said over and over again that he is making his turn to get better and she wants to be his nurse tomorrow so she can continue to watch him get better.

Here is a run-down of his current status:

Weight
Eagan was not weighed today or last night.

Length 
14" at last measurement
 
Breathing
Eagan is on the conventional ventilator. His settings were at 50 breaths per minute this morning, but tonight are 41 bpm.  His oxygen rate is 33%-24%. The pressure that the ventilator puts in his lungs also had to be increased today to 26.

 

Vitals
Eagan's blood pressure was low for most of the morning.

 

Vein and Artery Access
The arterial line is in his head.

 

The IV in his left leg blew so he now has one IV in his right arm.

 

A CVL, central venous line, was placed during surgery on the left side.

Medications

Sodium bicarbonate is being given for acidic ph levels.

Calcium gluconate is being given since his levels were low in his blood work.

Hydrocortisone, for blood pressure and stress response, is still at the increased dose.

His Dopamine was at 20 micrograms by this morning, but by this evening the nurse was able to wean him down to 12 micrograms.

 

Eagan is on Vancomycin and Meropenum - both antibiotics, and Synthroid for low thyroid levels.


His Morphine was previously given every two hours but now his is on the same dose, but as a constant drip.


Caffeine has been started as a diuretic to try to speed up his kidney function.

Nutrition
Eagan's only sources of nutrition right now are his TPN fluids and lipids.

 

Output

Eagan has a foley catheter in place. His urine output was not good last night and today.

Transfusions

Transfusion #21 was given today.