Day 55

Well Curly Q was doing a lot better. She didn't have any signs of infection and they stopped her antibiotics. Her oxygen needs were going down. On Friday, the Doc even mentioned to me that I should start consulting with the lactation specialists to get Curly Q started on oral feedings. I was thrilled. All of this changed Saturday morning. We got a call from the hospital telling us that they had to put Curly Q back on the ventilator. WHAT? She had several episodes of apnea (where she stops breathing). They did a chest xray and it showed that her lungs were over inflated. This indicates that she was probably experiencing Micro Aspirations (where she inhales a little bit of milk into her lungs). This can happen with babies who have acid reflux (which Curly Q does) and it can lead to infection or pneumonia. So, now started the process of testing for infection again. They took blood samples and started a blood cultures. With all of this, Curly Q's hemoglobin level had dropped and she looked pretty pale, so they also gave her a blood transfusion. They also decided to place her feeding tube deeper down. Instead of emptying into the stomach, it now empties into her intestines. This is so she won't have any more refluxing. Hopefully everything can heal, and nothing more with aspirate into her lungs.

Two nights around midnight, I got a call from the hospital. First of all, middle of the night calls from the hospital are not what I want to be receiving. The phone call woke me up, but I didn't get to the phone fast enough. I called them back and talked to the neonatologist that was taking care of Curly Q. She informed me that the blood culture came back positive for infection. They identified infection in her blood stream. They started her on a broad spectrum antibiotic in the meantime. I was sooo relieved that was all the Doc wanted. I was terrified that it was something terrible since she was calling me in the middle of the night.

This second infection is just as frustrating, but less scary. At least they know what is causing her to act this way and they have a plan to fix it. The first infection, they kept saying "We don't know". I am so grateful for medicine and doctors that keep my baby alive. With this set back, there is no way that Curly Q will be home by her due date (March 26) now. She will be on antibiotics for the next 10 days. She needs to stay on that special feeding tube (that empties into her intestines) for about 2 weeks. The frustrating part is we have no idea when she'll be coming home. It just has to be taken one day at a time, there is no way to know. And all of our sweet friends keep asking about Curly Q, and the one thing they want to know is WHEN is she coming home. We don't have any idea ... whenever she's ready.

This morning, when I went to visit her, the Doc told me that they identified the infection as a staph infection. They are not exactly sure how she got it, but they will continue to monitor her and give her antibiotics. Now we just wait for her to feel better and hopefully make some more progress.