Day Nine - Doing Fine

(I can't rhyme every title of a post.  But the last two days lent themselves well to it.)

Lincoln could pretty much only go up today.  Thank God he did.

He is far more stable now than he was 24 hours ago.  Twenty-four hours ago I was praying my son would live.  Today, he is pink, he moving more (he was listless and grey yesterday - bad signs...). Again, I lifted the blanket over his incubator and he was sleeping, but as I spoke to him, he opened his eyes.  I know he doesn't understand a word I say, and I'm not even sure how much he can hear me through all the plastic, with the hum of all the machines, the beeping of the alarms.  But he knows I'm there.  He looks in my direction (he can't see me, but perhaps sees a blur that in his mind is his Mommy).

We're not out of the woods - Link's kidney function is still an issue.  They stopped the dopamine because his blood pressure is looking better.  His blood pressure is a major issue because of his PDA.  The PDA is a major issue, but we cannot even address it until his kidneys are functioning better.  Of course, they aren't going to function as well without the PDA being repaired.

There are so many vicious cycles here - until Link gets bigger, he can't be transported for the ligation.  Without the ligation, he can't eat and therefore won't grow quickly at all.  If his kidneys aren't functioning well, he can't be given much in terms of medication and antibiotics, but without the medications and antibiotics, his kidneys won't function well.  *sigh*  The doctors, NP's, and nurses keep referring to the balancing act.  And each act affects everything else.  So while we're working on his kidneys, which is the main focus right now, other things are changing and being ignored and thrown out of balance and then checked again and adjusted and...

But the news for now is that he's pink (what a beautiful color on a baby), he gained 20mg since yesterday (690 to 710), he's off the dopamine, he's moving around a bit.  He's going back on bili lights as I type, and he's on two antibiotics (Seph(?) and V-something).  And for now he's stable.  And he is under Mommy's strict orders to continue improving.  Because I love him so much.  I know you know that.  But I love to say that I love my son.