The latest

So Seth is having a little set back. For some reason he has been having a few episodes of apnea, he decides he's not going to breathe. So while the doctors are trying to figure what's causing it we've been taken from our feedings again. He's on antibiotics in case it's an infection. He was given more blood in case having low hetacrit levels was the cause. And he's also been put on hydrocortisol. Biology lesson: We have adrenal glands which produce cortisol for our bodies. Preemies, well, you know, everything is premature. So he isn't producing cortisol on his own, or not enough. What is cortisol for? Well, no expert here, but one reason is to keep the pH level of your blood in sync, or something like that. I think I could be a NICU nurse by the time Seth comes home. Forget going to nursing school. So this too could be causing it. They did a lumbar puncture to get some spinal fluid just to make sure there is no infection in the spinal fluid. And of course they took blood. Blood is very expensive. I was looking at my hospital bill and did you know it costs over a thousand dollars for two units of blood! Man, I and they want us to just donate it? hahaha Oh well.

Ok, two things here that I've learned (out of many):

Too much oxygen can cause blindness in a preemie.
Too much antibiotics damages inside their ears.

That's why they constantly monitor these levels when using oxygen and antibiotics.