Little Vinnie hasn't been doing so well today - his oxygen needs have been very high so the doctors had his chest x-rayed to see what was going on. The x-rays showed up a white area (not good - healthy chest/lungs should show up black) on the right side which apparently indicates an infection.... pneumonia I am told. I started to have a bit of a freak out at that, but the doctor assured me that this isn't as bad as it sounds (really?!) and that it is quite common for preterm babies with chronic lung disease to develop pneumonia during their stay.So, our poor little baby has had another IV put in his foot for a course of antibiotics to treat the infection. Hopefully he'll start to show some improvement over the next day or two and his oxygen will be turned down a little... it has been really up and down the last few days going as high as 60% at times (he was hovering around 27-30% when he first went on CPAP).
It has been quite a tolling day on poor Vinnie - he was really unsettled from all the handling and then he screamed his head off when the IV was put in and the bloods taken. It is so hard watching him cry and seeing him so traumatised! Mum came in to visit this afternoon as all this was happening. I had been struggling to hold myself together and she had this panicked look on her face as I explained to her what was happening, it almost sent me over the edge.
The doctor spent some time assuring us that he is doing really well and this is just a little set back. We were warned early on that his stay in NICU would be frustrating that that often it would feel like we would take two steps forward and one step back. So, just trying to remain strong and focus on the positives at the moment. Speaking of which, Vinnie is gaining weight steadily - you may notice in today's pic that he is getting a bit chubbier and his colour has improved a lot.
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