Hi Everyone,
Crystal here, sorry we haven't updated the blog in what seems like forever, I know, but things have been very busy as usual for us here. I'm trying to remember all that has happened since I last updated, Parker is still on antibiotics, he will finish those up this coming Saturday, October 10 and will get his picc line out, after that he will be iv free. On last Tuesday we got somewhat bad news about a head ultrasound, apparently due to the infection, there was some swelling of the brain, this has caused the ventricles in the brain to have an increased amount of spinal fluid. This problem they hope will clear up on its on, today we had another ultrasound, and it was about the same, maybe a small amount more. The good thing about this is is that skull of babies is not fused together yet like ours, so they have room for swelling. The Dr. said even though this is a problem, they can however correct it if it doesn't correct itself. If it gets a significant amount worse then he would have to have a shunt, but that is not the case at this point. So we will just wait and see about next weeks ultrasound. Other than that last week was pretty quiet, Parker looks so much better and is gaining weight. He had been swelling all of his body some, but that seems to be getting better also. He is back up on his feedings and doing great. On Thursday of last week Landon went back to work, it was hard at first thinking about having to be here by myself. But once it happened I actually enjoyed the alone time. So Thursday was the first day since July that I had been alone. I did just fine with it. He worked Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. On Saturday night, Parker took his first bottle feeding. He had started getting fussy and pulling out his feeding tube and pushing his food up when they tried to feed him through the tube. They thought that since he had been sucking his paci so well we might could start to bottle feed. He did great. Since that time he has taken 3 more and done just fine. On Saturday night I left the nicu around midnight and went back to the apt, I talked to Landon for a little while and then went to bed around 2am. Around 4am I woke up with the most horrible pain in my back, I stayed in the bed very restless for about 45 min until finally I called Landon, after taking my blood pressure and seeing that it was very high, and after I started feeling very dizzy, Landon talked me into going to the ER. After several hours in the ER and a cat scan later, they came and told me I had a 4mm kidney stone. I'm still hoping to pass it, it hasn't happened yet. I am not in pain anymore though so that's a good thing. Landon drove on back up here Sunday morning after working off and he picked me up from the ER and took me back to the apt. We were both sleepy from being up all night and so we went to sleep and believe it or not we both slept for 16 hours straight, I guess not sleeping and being stressed had finally caught up with us. Today we went back to the nicu and fed Parker another bottle, and while that was going on, he got a visit from the Tennessee Titans, they came and had a visit with Parker and we got our picture made with them, it was very sweet. We are back in the nicu now, I am updating while waiting for time to feed him again. We are going to try bottle number 4. Then we are gonna go get some sleep b/c we are exhausted. Parker is doing extremely well to have been as sick as he was. I hate to even say that, b/c it seems every time that he does well, something happens. So just keep praying. Tonight Parker weighed 1500 grams, that is 3lb 5oz. He is so precious, he is getting chubby little cheeks. Please keep us in your prayers, maybe we will be home before too long. I sure hope so. Thanks everyone for all you continue to do for us, it is much appreciated.
Goodnight!