A nice long visit

Spent almost four hours at the NICU this evening and got lots of reassuring, encouraging, first-hand information from the doctors and nurses.  Everyone we've spoken to throughout the day (we started calling to check on him at 9:00 this morning) is saying how much better he looks and seems to feel. 

Cayden is still on the ventilator but they've reduced his settings so that he's not quite as reliant on it as he was.  His blood cultures have not shown any bacterial evidence of infection, they don't suspect pneumonia, and at this point, they're thinking maybe it's something viral but they may never know for sure.  The good thing is that he is still responding well to all the treatment.  They're still giving him antibiotics, but will likely discontinue them tomorrow.  He's been getting blood and blood products and TPN (his source of nutrition since they discontinued giving him breast milk.)  The extra IV and arterial lines they started yesterday are all still in place although some are not being used.  They just don't want to pull them until they're sure he won't need them since he's difficult to obtain access on.

When I first peeked in on him and said hello, he opened his eyes wide, looked right at me, and started wiggling and I swear, waving his little bandaged hand at me.  I said, "He looks so red!"  The nurse pointed out that he was actually probably pale when I saw him last and that his color was good, much better than it had been.  I was there through shift change, so I was able to listen in on the nurses' bedside review. Also while I was there, they came in to take a chest x-ray to confirm the placement of his endotracheal (ET) tube and see how his lungs looked.  I got to change his diaper and talked to him for a good while.

One of my favorite nurses, Valerie, came on this evening after having been gone almost a week.  She is one of Cayden's primary nurses and just makes me feel so comfortable with her bedside manner, the way she talks to me, and the way I see her care for our little baby.  I'm so glad to know she's there with him now.  She is a mom herself and I know in my heart she treats him like she would want one of her own treated.  Hopefully Cayden (and Jason, Jamison, and I too) will sleep well tonight . . .