Seven Weeks Old

When Mom and Dad walked into the NICU this morning they caught the doctor turning down some pressure settings on Archer's ventilator. It is a fun cat and mouse game to watch, as a doctor will sneak in the room to change settings without the nurses knowing. This particular doctor likes to call the other nurses "chickens" for not being more aggressive.

Archer's chest x-ray looked much better this morning, according to the doctor. The test on the infection has so far come back negative, as it has not grown into anything worse. He will continue to receive antibiotics for the next six days.
Archer's PICC line in his left arm was officially removed. They will use temporary I.V. lines for the rest of the week to give Archer his fluids, until he is on full feedings. His feeding intake went up from 96 ml to 120 ml per day.
Dad got to cuddle with Archer for the second time. Archer did much better this time around. He would forget to breathe once in a while and let the ventilator back him up, but he would also do this in the incubator.
Later at night, Archer's breathing started going a little downhill. He was having trouble breathing on his own and the ventilator was doing all of the work for him. The staff decided to take him off the setup of the sensory breathing, where Archer had more control over his breaths per minute. The line with the sensors in his stomach was taken out. He was then switched over to the older ventilator settings where the ventilator gives him breaths, whether he needs them or not. The staff set it to 45 breaths per minute and he was doing much better on this system.