February 2-late night brag :)

I got to hold Oliver for the first time tonight...they let me keep him all snuggled in my arms for almost an hour and a half!!! That boy can snuggle! :)

February 2-Settling in Seattle

It's been a long day, & I will try to remember details as best I can...Oliver's doctor in Spokane decided that things were going from bad to worse with his liver. She thought it best that we go to Seattle Children's Hospital to see a specialist. It didn't take long before an ambulance arrived to drive us to a small airport in Spokane where we flew to Seattle and took another ambulance to Seattle Children's Hospital. I was able to go with Oliver, Sean drove and is here now. Oliver was in stable condition the entire transport and did really good. Once we arrived we were greeted by a new doctor, a surgical team, and other specialists to will be looking over Oliver's charts carefully. Each team will decide what gaps need to be to be filled in, what questions haven't been answered and order the appropriate tests. Then everyone will sit down together and decide what the plan of action is and hopefully come up with a diagnosis for what he's going through. So as of right now I have no new medical news to report, his last platelet count came back at 16,000... Seattle Children's Hospital has a blood bank on site so we won't have to wait so long for platelets. I think they're going to choose a number-probably somewhere around 20,000 and not let his platelets drop below that from now on.
On a more exciting note, the doctors here were shocked when  I said that we had not been allowed to hold our baby yet. They said that they're going to allow us to start holding him at least  20 minutes a day!  We are also increasing his food intake. For the next day or two we are going to have to give him a soy based lactose free formula while the GI specialist checks his digestive system for certain sensitivities that may be causing irritation. Our hope is to get him back on breast milk as soon as possible and the blood work is already being done to rule out the lactose sensitivity.
I haven't heard much about his liver, I know that someone came up and did an ultrasound... And the surgical team came and looked at it, but I haven't heard back what the results were. No one seems to be too concerned. In Spokane they see cases like this very rarely, here it's something they see all the time...which is a little more reassuring. I'm very happy that we're here, Seattle Children's Hospital is one of the best in our country and I really feel like Oliver's getting the best care possible. Thank you everyone for all of your prayers, I'm going to go be with Oliver for a little while longer tonight and I will update the blog as soon as I can.
Love to all!

February 2- Morning news

I headed down early this morning to see Oliver and his doctor wanted to talk to me about his liver. In the last 24 hours his liver function has decreased considerably. She is calling a specialist in Seattle for advice on how to proceed. I don't know much about it yet, just that she seemed more concerned about this than she has been about anything else. She asked that Sean and I stay in the NICU with him so I will update as soon as I can...please pray for him and his doctors.

February 1

Sorry if I've worried anyone by not blogging all day-I was discharged last night and we had to pack everything up (including the laptop) and then we made a quick trip to Sandpoint to get clothes and things to stay in Spokane-so I have been away from Internet all day!

Oliver threw his first real fit this morning! I slept with one of his blankets last night so it would smell like mom and hopefully bring comfort...when we went to visit him this morning he was sleeping peacefully so in an effort to let him rest we slipped the mom-scented blanket in his incubator and marveled at his beauty. All of a sudden he started stirring, then rooting...he wanted food! His doctor was talking with us as we tried to calm him with no luck. The more we offered the pacifier the more irritated he became. His heart rate was going up, his temperature was going up-he just about broke a sweat and boy can he scream! So it was decided...Oliver is allowed to have a small 'snack' of breast milk every 3-4 hours. YIPEE OLIVER! Now let's just hope he doesn't think he will always get what he wants by throwing these temper tantrums :)

Now down to the nitty gritty-Olivers platelet levels are still too low...his last two tests came back at 17,000 and most recently 12,000. All of the other doctors and specialist that are familiar with Oliver are pleased with what they are seeing, it's just those darn platelets! He will likely get another transfusion and another test tonight but he is stable, eating, his blood looks good, his heart looks good, no internal bleeding...grrrrrr....platelets!

P.S. For Jack and Jillian...look who snuck into Oliver's incubator to say hello!!!

January 31-The evening post

Well it's official! Oliver looks good in hats! :)

He had an echo done on his heart this morning to double check that everything is exactly as it should be and it is! His heart is healthy and full of love. The results of his latest platelet count weren't as fabulous as we had hoped-his platelets are back down to 14,000. He will receive another platelet transfusion tonight.

It seems every time we visit the NICU there is a tale to be told of Oliver's strength. Some even refer to him as 'feisty' :) He has had a few periods of being alert and really enjoys being touched. He is very tolerant but if he doesn't like what's being done to him he definitely lets you know!

January 31-afternoon update

I am so happy to report that little Oliver's platelet level is at 73,000! The highest level yet!!! He will have his levels checked again at 6:00 this evening; and he will likely need more platelet transfusions in the future-but our hope is that he will need them less frequently as his levels start to build. HOORAY OLIVER!!!

Oliver's doctor has been working with a blood bank director in Texas who agreed this big bump in platelet levels is a great sign! The hematologist and his Dr. agree this appears to be a viral infection and the most likely treatment will be supportive care and time...There are other levels they have been keeping an eye on (like red & white blood cell count) and we are seeing improvements there which indicate he is making progress. :) We are sending off a sample of my blood to have it tested for anything that might have contributed to Oliver getting sick. His Doctor said she's pretty sure that they won't find anything but the test takes a week so she wants to have it sent off in case a week from now we're still looking for answers...

I am recovering from the c-section nicely and will be discharged this afternoon. Because Oliver is still here and we live so far away there are rooms here that we are allowed to stay in...a division of the Ronald McDonald house. It's day-by-day but it's in the hospital so it will be convenient to visit Oliver day or night. We are counting our blessings and cheering on Oliver as he does all this hard work!

January 31-The beginning of day 3

Oliver had the most wonderful night nurse last night! She was tender and attentive, she consolidated his lines and remodeled his incubator! New, fashionable blankets that made all the other babies jealous! He was swaddled and had lightly weighted pads on and around him that I'm sure made him feel like Sean and I were there with our hands on him. He is snug as a bug in a rug!

The night nurse said he was very well behaved last night. He slept almost the entire time (something I hope he makes a habit of when we go home :)) He had another platelet transfusion around midnight and his labs came back at 17,000 so I'm sure he will be getting another platelet transfusion today. He sure is a tough little cookie!