See his little blonde spot?

So cute...look how huge the pacifier is next to him.

June 20, 2011

Aaron had a busy day today with all of his testing, and it was another great day! When I walked in this morning, I talked with the nurse. I said that Aaron had come far in his first week of life, and she said that he had come halfway around the world. So right she is! He has amazed his doctors and nurses!

Today his bilirubin count was down to 10, so he remains on two lamps. It is moving in the right direction, so we are confident he will be off of the lamps very soon. The doctor clamped one of his chest tubes, and he said as long as everything still looks good tomorrow, he will remove that one. The doctor said that he hopes to have both chest tubes removed in the next few days. Aaron's chest x-ray looked really good today with no reformation of air pockets! He also received his brain and renal ultrasound today, but those results will not be back until the morning. The doctor told me that at this point those tests were to make sure his organs were formed correctly. They have still been unable to determine the cause of Aaron's early and troublesome arrival, so they are just looking at everything to rule out abnormalities. They originally thought he may have CMV, a common virus in adults that can be fatal to babies; the results of that test came back today, and he was negative. At birth he was 4 lbs, 10 3/4 oz, and today he was down to 4 lbs, 2 3/4 oz; most of this loss was all of the fluid on his body. His doctor from the weekend, the one who took him off the ventilator, looked in on him and was so pleased. He said Aaron is a star!

Aaron's big thing today was the insertion of his picc line and the removal of his UVC (Umbilical Vein Catheter). These procedures were both done without any problems, and the follow-up x-ray showed that the picc was put in the right place! Praise God! He also continued being fed his 3ml of milk every three hours, and the doctor said he didn't think Aaron had chylothorax (where the fat from foods is absorbed into the lungs instead of being carried in the bloodstream). This is great!

Every day Aaron continues to improve, and I am so thankful. It is wonderful to see my baby start looking like a well baby! I am forever grateful to God for this gift! He is faithful!!!