Eye Opening Experience

Archer surprised Mom and Dad this morning with an opened right eye! His left eye was about half way open when Mom and Dad went home for the night, and it will most likely be open by New Year's Day.
Archer is now off the blood pressure medication (Dopamine)! His blood pressure levels have been excellent. He also received more blood today.
Archer lost an I.V. line that was in his left leg, so that one was taken out and one was put in his right arm.
Archer also had his 30 day head ultrasound. The results of this test were the same as the past few with a small questionable spot, which is not a major concern right now.
Happy New Year, Archer! May next year bring you good health and a happy home!

Steroid Time

Archer had the line in his right arm taken out that was used for blood draws and monitoring his blood pressure. The blood draw line got clogged a couple of days ago and the part that monitored his blood pressure was not getting very good readings. It is undecided if they will add another similar line for these functions.

Archer's blood pressure (being monitored by a cuff) has still been good. He was taken down to even more smaller doses of blood pressure medication. Not much left to go!

During the last 24 hours, Archer's oxygen levels have stayed in the high 70s. He has been very squirmy and his breathing has been constantly up and down about every 5 minutes. The doctor did decrease a couple of pressure settings on the ventilator. This seemed to help a little. He also started taking an inhaled steroid, in combination with his breathing treatment, that should help lung development. It could take up to two weeks to see the results of these steroids. The steroids are similar to what someone with asthma or chronic breathing problems might take. Archer is expected to be on these steroids for a short period of time.

Archer is also off the antibiotics that he started about a week ago to cure whatever sickness he may have had, if any.

The hernia that Archer has is most likely because his boys are starting to drop. After they drop, there is air left from where they were before. This is a common occurrence.

Four Weeks Old

Archer's blood pressure levels have continued to be excellent and he was able wean down a little more on the blood pressure medication today!
Archer's oxygen levels were way down throughout the morning and afternoon (all the way to 56%), however he had a rough evening and was back up to 75% oxygen.
Archer's chest x-rays during the past couple of days have also not been as clear as they had been a few days before.
Archer also started getting a hernia in his southern region. Apparently this is very common in preemies, gross to look at, and not a concern at this time.

More Blood

Archer's received the gift of blood again today. The doctor stated that he would like to keep the blood supply up more often to make sure that he is as stable as possible.
Archer's blood pressure levels have been great. He was able to wean off quite a bit of the dopamine today. Just a little more to go and he will hopefully no longer need to be on this medication. Or, he could take so little of this medication that it may be possible to start the milk feedings again.
Archer's oxygen levels have not been so good as of late. When Mom and Dad left today, his oxygen levels were at 88%. A late night call to the NICU by Dad revealed that the nurses had retaped the tube around his cheeks, repositioned it a little, and in just a few hours were able to wean him all the way down to 72%!

No Stressin' Today

Archer saw a new doctor today that will help keep an eye on his seizure-like symptoms that he had a few days ago. The doctor decided to postpone the EEG test because it may not show very much at all, as far as what caused the action, and it would have also stressed out Archer. The test may be scheduled when Archer is a little older and healthier; an MRI will be done before Archer leaves the NICU which should help show why he was having such an action. The good news is that since that day Archer has not shown any seizure-like actions, but he has been on seizure medication.
Archer's blood pressure levels were good today and he was able to wean down to smaller doses of medication for this.
Archer received a new Kate's Kart book today: If You Were My Bunny.

Clear X-ray

Archer started out the day by showing us that his latest chest x-ray was the clearest it had been in a long time. The "haziness" or "fuzziness" was not very existent which means that his lungs should be getting a little healthier.
Archer will attempt again to wean off the blood pressure medication a little bit at a time. His blood pressure was at a good level throughout the day today.
Archer's respiration levels today were about the same as the previous days and were stable. We hope to wean these numbers down soon as well.
Archer shared some bonding time with Mom and Dad today. They both got to hold his pacifier for him and rub his back for a little while. He has really taken to using a pacifier.

Christmas Day

Archer received two gifts from Santa Claus today! The first gift was the gift of a new I.V. line in his ankle! It took the nurses quite a few pokes, and a lot of time, to get the line in (this made Archer, Mom and Dad a little nervous and irritated as well).
This first gift leads right into the second, which was the gift of blood given through the new I.V. line. Archer was running a little low on blood because of all the blood draws.
Archer's blood gas levels have been great so the doctors have been setting the ventilator to lower pressure settings. We hope this trend continues. His oxygen levels have been a little high, but stable.
Archer's blood pressure is still taking nosedives every now and then. The most recent could have been attributed to needing more blood in his system.
Archer's most recent weigh-in was at 1 pound, 8 ounces.
Mom and Dad are very thankful to have spent their time with Archer on his first Christmas. They think that Archer's gift of showing them his eyes will be a little late, but soon, and it will be well worth the wait.