Spinal Tap

Wyatt is still above his birth weight, slightly more than 1 pound, 11 ounces (up 20 grams to 770!)  The nurse proclaimed today, "Isn't that great?  He's above his birth weight and he's not even 2 weeks ok!"  We took that as a REALLY GOOD SIGN!

He had his first (and last, we hope) spinal tap today.  The poor little guy was a trooper.  Given the positive blood cultures (not just in the petrie dish, we learned), the infection is and will continue to be monitored and treated.  We don't know how it got into his bloodstream but it was likely through the PICC line, the doctors say.  Unlike kids and adults, neonates don't localize their infections so there was concern that the infection could (or has) spread to his brain (meningitis...yikes!).  Therefore, a spinal tap was done.  The good news is, the preliminary results are back and already look great.  When I spoke to the NICU nurse tonight, her response was, "the preliminary results gave the doctor no reason to be concerned."  The biggest difference is that they treat it for 5-7 days this way.  If they had concern about it spreading, they would treat for 14-21 days.  So, 5-7 days it is!

In other news, he's moved to the next version of oxygen, skipping the CPAP altogether!  He is now connected to a high flow nasal cannula, assisting him as needed.  

He has taken a liking to the binky (for short periods of time) which is GREAT for a preemie so they get some time to toy with the sucking motion.  Suck, swallow, breathe is a difficult sequence for preemies.

We saw the slits of his little, adorable, baby blue eyes.

First spinal tap! :( 

Blood draw from his hand