February 8, 2010: Hospital Day 2

Cohen's primary doctor came in early this morning and examined him. She wasn't impressed with what she saw or heard. We will be here tonight as well. He was successfully weaned to a lower oxygen amount last night, but the change has wiped him out.

He has some really strange behavioral symptoms, so we are not really sure what is going on. He slept for almost the entire day on Sunday, with a combined awake time of maybe 2 hours. When he wakes up from his nap, he is happy and alert: walking around the crib, cooing, baby talking, playing with his toys, and generally looks great. Then about 15 minutes into it he gets weak and starts to lose his balance when he is standing, so he'll sit down and continue to play (but will add some moaning and groaning) 2 minutes later, he is so weak he can't sit up anymore, so he'll lay down and toss and turn moaning and groaning until he falls asleep. Then he will sleep 3-4 hours, and then wake up and do it all again. Well, the nurses only come in to do vitals when he is awake so the only time they see him is when he is alert and happy and playful...which leads them to chart that he is doing very well. It is so frustrating because I feel like they don't really think he is that sick. Luckily, Cohen didn't pull the "fake well" for the doctor stunt with his doctor this morning and she was able to see him in his true state. To add to the frustration, the respiratory therapist who saw Cohen last night said his lungs sounded great...and this morning when his doctor listened she still heard a lot of "crackling." I feel like there is a huge disconnect in care...and I now see why the hospitalist approach works so well.

My next pet peeve is with the hospital's policy. When Cohen was admitted, I was slightly relieved because he was in a hospital and not just home sick, so John and I could still go to class. Now, I am not a huge fan of the "leave your kid in the hospital by themselves" routine, but it would have only been for a couple of hours and then one of us would return to be with him. Well, at this hospital a parent has to be with the infant (read: in the room) the entire time. I can't even go down to the cafeteria without asking permission and having it be granted only if there is enough nurses to spare one to stand in his room for 3 minutes. Talk about frustrating.

As far as what he actually has, that is still unclear. They swabbed him for H1N1 and RSV, and both came back negative. It sounds like his pneumonia is a byproduct of a virus he is fighting. He was given a dose each of two more antibiotics this morning. Thankfully, I returned from my lunch break to a somewhat more happy and alert baby. (Really though, I think he was just happy to have his daddy hang out with him...he has been fighting going to sleep even though he is very weak) Unfortunately, he feels a lot warmer and I hope it isn't the beginning of a fever.

Our game plan for the remainder of Cohen's illness will be known on a day to day basis. There was some talk about maybe sending him to Spokane if he doesn't get considerably better, quickly. Pneumonia in an infant's lungs is not good to begin with, let alone in an infant born 11 weeks premature. He is on high watch (not from the nursing staff I suppose, just his parents and primary doc) for any sudden changes that might warrant a helicopter ride.

In all, he is hanging in there and putting to good use all the BabyLegs I previously purchased. We should know more later this afternoon when his primary care doctor returns to check on him.