Baby Eagan - Day 71 - Lines...Again!

  Eagan's arterial line bit the dust this morning. The arterial line goes into an artery and monitors his blood pressure. The biggest benefit of this line is the nurses can draw blood gases from it to monitor carbon dioxide levels, ph levels, and several other important numbers that let them know how well he is breathing and to turn the ventilator up or down. If he doesn't have this line, he has to be pricked in the heel over and over again. Eagan is probably the hardest child in the NICU to get a line in and once he gets them, they don't last long. Fortunately, an awesome doctor got this line in on the third attempt. That might be a record for Eagan. Now he has a nice, new line in his left wrist. You can see it in the picture under the red tape.

Weight
3 lb 11.5 oz

Breathing
Eagan is on the conventional ventilator. His settings are at 30 breaths per minute. His oxygen rate is around 35%. The pressure that the ventilator puts in his lungs is at 20. Also, he has fluid in his lungs so he is getting Atrovent breathing treatments every six hours.

Vein and Artery Access 
Eagan lost the IJ line today and gained a femoral line in his upper thigh.

 

He has an IV in the top of his hand.

He had an arterial line in his foot, but now he has one in his left wrist.

 

Medications

An antibiotic, Oxicillin is being given every six hours. 

 

Hydrocortisone, for blood pressure and stress response, is down to once every 48 hours.

 

He is now only on Morphine every 6 hours.

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

 

He is also on Diflucan as a preventative measure.

 

He is also on Zantac to help calm his tummy's acid levels.

 

Lasix, a diuretic, will be given every 4 hours along with Albumen, a protein that makes up the majority of our blood.

 

He is back on Synthroid for low thyroid.

 

Nutrition 

8 cc's of breastmilk every 3 hours! He is still getting TPN and lipids also.

 

Output

A lot of pee today. He is putting out a good bit of poop from his ostomy, but since his intestines tore in such a high area, he is not digesting much of his food. 

 

Transfusions 

June 14 - Transfusion #27
 

Upcoming Tests

Another eye exam to check on the severity of his retinopathy of prematurity will be next Thursday.

Cranial ultrasound at 36 weeks gestation.