To Have and to Hold

He was stable enough on night shift that I got to hold him. It's called kangaroo care (skin to skin contact). He tolerated it for an hour then his oxygen saturations started to get low so his nurse put him back into the incubator. I might get to hold him again tomorrow. The doctors indicated that the blood culture might have been a contaminate rather than accurate. The bacteria that the culture grows is on everyones skin. He had a lumbar puncture (removal of cerebral spinal fluid) to send for culture and to get a reading of the white blood cell count. He is being tested for meningitis (infection of the brain; some bacteria are able to pass the blood-brain barrier and cause an infection in the structures in the brain. He is doing better, which could be because the antibiotics are working (clearing up the infection) or the PDA is closing or a combination of both. He completed the 3 doses of the medication for the PDA. I think he has an Echo cardiogram tomorrow. Please pray that he remains stable enough to be held, that the PDA is closed, that his infection clears up, his oxygen requirements on the ventilator are at room air or close to it, Fi02 at 21% (currently needs 40-100% depending on what is going on) and that he is stable enough for us to go to Bremerton for Karen's follow up appointment on Thursday. Pictures of him being held will be posted later, Glenn is eating some dinner.

And Glenn donated blood today.