Or not

Well, so much for a positive arc with Colin. He now has pneumonia. Or at least the doctor is pretty sure he does.

I got to the hospital in time for the 9:00 feeding yesterday morning, hoping to be able to try breastfeeding with Colin again. But when I walked into the nursery, he was stripped down to his diaper with a cool cloth on his head. 

When his nurse checked on him after she came on in the morning, he seemed listless and hot. His temperature was high, but not quite into the serious fever range, but his heart rate was very high (up to 250 when it should be in the 180s) and his breathing was fast and labored. 

But most concerning to her (and to me) was his lack of response to being undressed and changed. If you’ve been following the blog, you know Colin is anything but unresponsive. He’s more the “let you know at the top of his lungs when he’s angry” kind of baby. So she was trying to cool him down (helps with the respiration rate) while waiting for the doctor to come see him.

The doctor raised his oxygen back to 3 liters and we waited to see if that was going to be enough to bring his breathing back down to better levels. It certainly helped, but it didn’t solve the problem so Colin had another chest x-ray yesterday afternoon. The x-ray showed an area in his lower left lobe that looked concerning — possibly pneumonia. 

So the IV is back in and Colin is getting two antibiotics while we wait for the labs to come back. If they don’t show that this is bacterial, he’ll come off the meds in 48 hours. If it is bacterial, he’ll stay on longer. Our goal is to nip it in the bud so he doesn’t have to be intubated (back on the ventilator) again. 

Unfortunately, this is just a taste of what we’ll be facing for the next two years, as Colin’s body works to rebuild his lungs. Even a simple cold for him can quickly turn into pneumonia, meaning more trips to the hospital and x-rays to make sure his lungs are okay. 

Making matters more stressful, Veronica also was not feeling well yesterday. She too was running a little high on her temperature (again, not quite into the full-blown fever range, but higher than normal) and was spitting up almost everything she ate. This, of course, made her very irritable and she needed to be held almost all day (and night). (And made me very worried — what if she had pneumonia too? Or what if it was something worse?)

As a result, I am rather tired and crabby today. I am happy to report that Veronica made it through the night without spitting up (maybe because she and I slept in the chair so I could keep her upright after eating) and seems to be back to her more normal self. Colin spent a quiet night and even gained a big chunk of weight (35 grams), despite everything. (He’s now up to a little more than 4 pounds 7 ounces.)

I guess our care conference today will not be focused on when we can get Colin home after all. Ugh! I’m beginning to get superstitious about writing anything positive or hopeful here — I always seem to be following it up with bad news. (Don’t worry, I won’t really stop. I know there isn’t a cause and effect relationship between the two, even if it sometimes feels like there is.)