Day 3 Thursday March 31st

6am update

We have good news. The PICC line IV went in successfully last night and is now a better way to administer the IV.

Last night they gave him a third dose of surfactant and his body is accepting it and it will hopefully continue to help heal his lungs.

They did a GAS (blood test) test and the seven levels including co2, oxygen, and other elements of the blood look to be holding steady.

Just in case the doctor ordered a heart echo and great news is that everything came back normal.

*UPDATE- 9am*

The 6am update was too optimistic. The new shift doctor, Dr. Lopez came in at 8am and called our room asking us to come up to the NICU. She spent about an hour explaining what I am going to try and summarize in a couple of paragraphs.
His 3rd dose of surfactant wasn't as effective as they'd hoped. He is now requiring 100% oxygen from his current ventilator. She explained that babies deficient in surfactant usually start producing it on their own around 48 hours of life. They aren't going to administer more doses because it could have an adverse effect.

Henry has developed PHTN-Pulmonary Hypertension which is abnormally high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs. We want his blood pressure to be higher in his body than the lungs so his blood will flow into the lungs, giving him more oxygen.

In hopes of improving his condition, they are going to switch his current ventilator to a larger heavy duty machine called an oscillator.

They will monitor the new ventilator for a couple of hours and will likely start the following.

1) Give him more fluids to try to raise his blood pressure in the body.
2) Start Antibiotics as a precautionary measure. They are taking blood from his UAC line in his umbilical cord to test for infection.
3) Continue Dopamine to help force the blood pressure up and encourage blood flow into the lungs.
4) More morphine to make him as comfortable as possible. They are stressing that he needs to be in a very calm and quiet environment.
5) Possibly administer Nitric Oxide which will dilate the vessels in lungs and will relax the muscles in the lungs.

Goals for today
-Get his oxygen as high as possible in his body

Good news
Dr. Lopez has secured us a room provided by the Ronald McDonald house in the hospital, which is a hotel just across the hall. There are twin beds there and friends and family can visit during the day... including Charlie! This is an amazing service that will allow us to be close by Henry and as comfortable as possible, while still letting visitors come in.

Dr. Lopez also says that Pulmonary Hypertension is an illness of recovery.

She said to expect 4 to 5 rough days leading into the recovery. While he is in critical condition, this is a common course for Respiratory Distress Syndrome and unfortunately will probably get worse before he can get better. It was nice to hear facts and good to be told straight forward that he will be critical for the next ~5 days, but hopefully after that his body will start to take over and improve.

Keep the prayers coming! We'll update more as we hear the news. Things change very rapidly.