Jack has pneumonia

Jack's doctors were concerned because although he has not gotten worse in his four days in ICU, he has not gotten better as they had hoped. He still needs the oxygen and is still working hard to breathe. Also, the adelectisis (tiny collapses) in his lungs have not 'popped open' like they should when RSV runs its course. So, today they did another x-ray and came to the conclusion that he must have pneumonia. They began a 10 day course of antibiotics, and are hoping that he will show improvement soon.

Obviously, we just want our little boy to get better no matter what he has. The only bright side is that at least there is medication available for pneumonia. RSV cannot be treated pharmaceutically; you just have to wait it out. So, we are hoping they are correct about the pneumonia and that the meds help him soon. We won't know anything for a couple of days, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that this works.

We can hold him now, but only about once a day for a short period. Moving him in and out of his bed tends to stress him out and his breathing gets more labored. It is very hard to have to 'visit' your child and to be limited to holding him so little. But, we are hoping that all of this will help him to get better soon so that we can have our whole family together.

Ben is doing great. VNA came today and he now weighs 6.1 lbs... he has been eating great! He has been very alert at home and likes to sit up and look around. He had his first bath yesterday- I did remember to take pictures so I will post those soon. He is a funny little guy with a ton of unique expressions. I can't wait for him to be reunited with his brother.

That's about all for today- thanks for checking in.