Happy Halloween!!!

OK, so I started to type a post numerous times yesterday, it just didn't work out. I never got it finished...something kept coming up!
Yesterday, for the most part, Jaime had a good day. He was restless all day, we were thinking it was because he was more aware and his tube was bothering him. Also, it seemed like he'd get agitated every time he peed. (poor baby-by the way, he just peed MY pants!)
There was talk of extubation yesterday...however due to several different factors, extubation was put off until early this morning. As you all know by now, I post at night...here's the thing...Jaime WAS indeed extubated (we'll get to that in a minute), however, we're thinking that he'll be re-intubated this afternoon, so I figured I'd post now. I'll probably need to hold his hand the rest of the day to keep the tube in.
OK, on to the infamous extubation. UGH! One would think that since Jaime was on a 1/4 liter (at base) at home, that it should be fairly easy to extubate, right? WRONG! This is JAIME we're talking about! He was extubated at 7:35 A.M. He was put on the high flow O2 at 4 liters. He's working REALLY hard to breathe and his heart rate has been up. A blood gas was done, surprisingly enough, it was really good. Still, Jaime is breathing really hard...satting well, just working. So, during rounds the decision was made to bump him up to 5 liters high flow. Just about noon, since the liter change did NOTHING for him, they bumped him up to 6 liters high flow. He is asleep, but this was after I held him for a while, bathed and repositioned him. He's still working VERY hard to breathe. He is due for another blood gas at 2:00 P.M. that will be the determination time as to whether or not Jaime will be re-intubated. I will try to post an update later as to what the decision was!

Now on to Jared....poor little guy woke up with 103.4 temp today. He started getting a high fever last night (102.8) just before trick-or-treating! He did get to go to a few houses after taking Tylenol and Motrin. He was back in the house, bathed and in his pj's before trick-or-treating was even over! I called the dr. this morning, but they didn't seem to want him to go anywhere today. He will probably go to the dr. tomorrow. He's coughing and then this morning he threw up (he even called me bright and early to tell me about it...blah)!

You know, it's hard having a child in the NICU to begin with (not one single NICU parent will argue that, regardless of length of stay), but this stay is truly exacerbated by the fact that my family is so broken up. It's not like I have a dog, cat or fish at home, I have my husband and (now sick) son at home. This is much harder than our first visit for that reason alone. Not to mention, Jaime isn't doing as well as we all had hoped he would. Looks like it's going to be a longer stay than anticipated which means even MORE time away from Tom and Jared. :-(

Kathy is here now taking Jaime's blood gas...we'll find out the verdict soon.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween...and Happy belated Birthday to my Aunt Sandy and sister-in-law, Jessica! (Aunt Sandy's birthday was yesterday and Jess' birthday was on Monday!)

I'll post pics later (along with the verdict) if I have time, I have some cute ones from yesterday of Jaime in his "dog" costume.

Until later....


P.S. Please keep Jared's buddy, Connor, in your thoughts and prayers as he was admitted to Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital last night. He has Type I diabetes and is having issues with his sugar levels being too low. We love you guys, sorry I can't be there for you, know that we're thinking of you and wishing you the best! (Just give the boy a few Halloween Hershey bars already! ;-)