By Friday (June 8) Benjamin had been weaned off fluids and lipids. It was kind of a big deal for him—it meant he was getting all of his calories from milk so he no longer needed an IV line for that. It also meant that he could start wearing big boy clothes! Unfortunately, he had to keep an IV line in to receive his antibiotics. Today he gets his very last dose of antibiotics and then he'll be completely IV free. I am so excited for this because his IVs keep going bad and then they have to put one in at a new site. It makes him miserable. (Video from June 7...and this is just taking out the bad IV...you should have heard him when they put in the new one).
So far (and hopefully in total) he has had two IVs in his right arm, one in his left arm, one in his right foot, and three in his head. On Friday his IV (which was pumping 3 mL of antibiotics into his head) infiltrated but because of the way I was holding him I didn't notice until I went to put him down. He had a huge bulge (well, 3 mL huge, anyway) on the side of his head. I called the nurse over and she quickly took his IV out and then got a team of nurses together to put a new one in (this time in his foot). He got some "sweeties" (drops of sugar water) and had one nurse holding his top half in the fetal position, one nurse holding his legs still, and one nurse poking at his veins. He hated every minute of it.
He didn't take long to calm down though.
I was so sad about his poor little head that I spent most of the day crying about it. You can kind of see the bulge of fluid in this picture (he's lying on it):
I can only imagine how sore he is! My arms are still bruised and sore from the IV I got when I had him (and the two failed attempts to get the IV in the first place). I am so happy the IV stage is (nearly) over!
So far (and hopefully in total) he has had two IVs in his right arm, one in his left arm, one in his right foot, and three in his head. On Friday his IV (which was pumping 3 mL of antibiotics into his head) infiltrated but because of the way I was holding him I didn't notice until I went to put him down. He had a huge bulge (well, 3 mL huge, anyway) on the side of his head. I called the nurse over and she quickly took his IV out and then got a team of nurses together to put a new one in (this time in his foot). He got some "sweeties" (drops of sugar water) and had one nurse holding his top half in the fetal position, one nurse holding his legs still, and one nurse poking at his veins. He hated every minute of it.
He didn't take long to calm down though.
I was so sad about his poor little head that I spent most of the day crying about it. You can kind of see the bulge of fluid in this picture (he's lying on it):
I can only imagine how sore he is! My arms are still bruised and sore from the IV I got when I had him (and the two failed attempts to get the IV in the first place). I am so happy the IV stage is (nearly) over!
This makes my heart hurt. Poor poor little guy! Can't wait til he can get off all the machines and go home!
ReplyDeleteAw poor boy. Poor MAMA! Almost done, and hopefully everything goes smoothly and they don't need to put any more in! You're a strong mom!
ReplyDelete-Krystal
Hang in there Nancy! Sounds like he is making amazing progress. I have wanted to slug many a nurse even though they were just doing their job!! Soon it will all be over!
ReplyDelete