Complication

Our weekend has been dominated by concern for our little guy. For reasons that the UC staff isn't totally able to pinpoint, Soren has been having a hard time. His breathing is much quicker than it usually is, his oxygen level was lower, and his heartrate was a bit faster, too. On top of that (but perhaps unrelated), his jaundice is climbing. Lisa and i picked up on something being a little bit off on Friday, since he was squirmy and just feeling..."off," but it took a day and a half for Super-Casual Resident to actually believe Lisa (after 2 nurses told her that she might want to listen to the mom). I find it hard to take someone seriously who says things like "...if he starts acting silly" instead of "...if he starts looking sick." Silly? Are we in Monty Python?

It's been a bit nerve-wracking watching him struggle. We had an ordeal today where the doctor finally ordered a blood transfusion. After it was ordered, the nursing staff had to draw blood at least 4 times, and he screamed through it all, since he was losing blood when he would have rather had more. The reinforcement blood finally arrived... SEVEN hours later. From a lab downstairs! They messed up his blood type and caught their error four hours into the process. Now, i'm not one to throw stones, but.... seriously guys. What if his life had been in danger?

Lisa didn't feel good leaving him until he looked better tonight, and mercifully he did, even before the transfusion. He doesn't have an infection, and he doesn't have any serious stomach problems. So, it's not The Worst, at least. But they still don't quite know what's going on.

All in all, we are still feeling pretty fortunate. Lisa's colleagues all covered for her so that she could drop an entire day of school to spend nearly 12 hours at this hospital. I was able to be there for 9, and the nursing staff has been unbelievably kind and personable, and COMPETENT! They call us when things look iffy, and they all go out of their way to check on Soren (even when they are assigned to other babies). We have been getting packages from friends and family near and far, and had a great baby shower, and even got a handmade baby blanket from Lisa's mom (who is preemptively filching the title of "Grammi").

We're continuing to pull for our little fighter.