Another big day tomorrow!

Look at how big his diapers are! They cover over half his back and still aren't even up all the way.

Kale's first fort! Every preemie in the NICU receives a quilt (from different churches and organizations), and this is the one we picked out for Kale. It has dalmations and other fabric on it. He is able to have it over his incubator to keep the light out when he doesn't have the photo therapy light on.

Little guy is looking better and better every day!

Kale had a stable (which Derc and I like to call 'good') day today! He is up to 1 lb. 12 oz.......that's right, 12! He's headed in the right direction with his weight, gaining steadily. He is doing awesome with his feedings, they increased him again to 2 mls every 3 hours. So, over a 24 hour period now he's at 16 mls (that's about 1/2 an ounce!) per 24 hour period...that's way up from where he started 4 or 5 days ago at 4 mls per 24 hour period. What a stud :) They said going forward they will simply start increasing the amount, as they don't feed the preemies more often than 3 hours.

His blood gases came back pretty good this morning and he won't have another one until later in the evening. Kale's vent settings are pretty low, the amplitude levels are around 18, which is the lowest we've seen it and is great compared to the other day when he was around 28. His oxygen levels today were better, they were around 30% or so all afternoon, which is better than the day before.

We have not received the results from his second blood culture. Kale received another blood transfusion today, so that's about 5 consecutive days with blood transfusions. the Drs. say this is a sign that he is definitely fighting some type of infection since he is having a hard time maintaining his blood elements (mainly the hemoglobin and hematorcrit). They said his platelet count looked pretty low this morning so they are anticipating giving a platelet transfusion later this evening or tomorrow.

We are hoping that Kale has a peaceful night as he has another busy day tomorrow. He will have a brain scan tomorrow morning to see if his brain bleed has improved, worsened or stayed the same. We are all hoping that it either remains the same or improves, and doesn't worsen. The scans are up for a bit of interpretation, so if a different Dr. reads the scan they could interpret results somewhat differently. There is really nothing we can do about the brain bleeds, no medication to give at this point or other type of treatment, but it's still nice for us to know where he is sitting.

Derc and I had some afternoon visitors today - my parents, sister, brother-in-law and nephew came through Ankeny on their way home from Justin's hometown (he races on the weekends up in Algona). It was great to see them, they always lift our spirits and help take our mind off things and offer great support! They worked together to put together Kale's changing table and then organized all of Kale's bedroom furniture, so it will be all ready when he comes home! Kale's grandparents also got us a beautiful plant that we're calling Kale's garden, it sits out front of our house. I'm ok with admitting that I'm pretty terrible at keeping plants alive, so hopefully I have some better luck with this one :)

Well, hope everyone had a great weekend, Derc and I did and feel like Kale did as well. We ask that you keep Kale in your prayers, and that he has an improved brain scan tomorrow and continues to fight this infection!