Saturday, 3/12

Today was an okay day but we're sitting on pins and needles a little bit. The past several days they have been measuring a number called the "CRP" which is a blood test done to measure the risk of infection. It's a very non-specific test and can be affected by many things, but the thinking is that the higher the number, the more indicative it is of infection. Several days ago Dinky's was "2" which is somewhat high, however today it was 7 which is very high. He doesn't have any other clinical signs of infection but this number is definitely worrisome. His blood cultures were negative, which is great, but the took new cultures today to be sure. It can take up to 5 days for some things to grow, such as fungal infections, so it may be several days before we know these results. In the meantime, we're a bit anxious about all of this. Hopefully the number will be back down tomorrow so we can go back to reveling in his progress and his poop!

Other than that he's "eating" well, he's up to 7.5 mL an hour! He also lost another 110 g which is great! We can really tell the swelling is going down. He's also become quite the "busy body". His hands are always looking for something to hold onto (I think he was even doing this in utero as many of you will remember his heart rate dropped frequently, presumably from grabbing the cord) and he likes to try and hold onto the "et" tube connected to the respirator. Well, they are concerned he's going to pull it out so he got some makeshift "mittens". We definitely enjoy watching his little hands reach out and explore his little world. He still has difficulty opening his eyes due to the swelling, but he sure tries. You can just see those eyebrows go up in a concerted effort.

Hopefully we will be able to come back tomorrow night and tell you that his CRP has dropped significantly. We need this upswing to continue, but no one needs it more than Dinky.