01 April 2009

Update

It probably looks weird to our neighbors to see us coming and going without a baby so I thought we'd post a quick update as to Cameron's situation.
I tested positive for Group B Strep while pregnant, which is very normal, but if the mother isn't treated before the baby is born, the baby can contract it, at which point it becomes dangerous. Normally, they just give the mother antibiotics via IV while in labor, which are then transmitted to the baby to protect them from contracting Group B Strep. This requires the mother to be on IV for (I believe) 4 hours, and since I was only in labor for just over 2 hours, there was no human way to treat me. Cameron happened to be one of the few babies that contracted it and is now in the NICU until at least Saturday afternoon.
The doctor did a spinal tap to see if the bacteria got into his spinal column which would result in meningitis. As of today, the results didn't look the best, so Cameron could be in NICU up to 21 days. We're really hoping that he can come home Saturday, but we know a healthy baby is the most important.
Even with this situation, we've seen many blessings. Normally, results from the baby's blood tests take quite a while to come back, but Cameron's came back the night after he was born, so they were able to put him on antibiotics immediately. So far, he has not been symptomatic and looks/sounds healthy. He's a beautiful, sweet little boy, and all the nurses enjoy caring for a baby so big since they normally take care of preemies.
He's been quite the trooper throughout all of this. He's nursing great and staying at a healthy weight, so we're counting our blessings that this isn't much worse. My mom is up here taking care of Kimball so Dale can go to work while I go back and forth to the hospital to nurse Cameron. In the picture, you can see all the monitors that he has, the feeding tube they use when I can't make it to nurse him, the IV in his foot, and the bandage on his other foot where they keep pricking him for blood tests.

2 comments:

Heather said...

He looks so chubby and handsome. thanks for letting us know where he was.. I was starting to wonder why I never seem him leave with you. Let us know if you need anything I'm right up stairs and almost always home...

Tim and Angie said...

Poor little guy! I hope he gets to go home soon too. He is a very cute baby. Good luck.