Happy 36 weeks gestation to the little guy! 75 days, 36 weeks gestation, 6 weeks at Children's Hospital, and 11 weeks old on Tuesday. This next week, Gosling will most likely be officially diagnosed with BPD (Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia) and will be seen by an additional care team of pulmonologists and cardiologists. We are hoping to have a more clear timeline of when he can be discharged as well as the goals needed to get there. Overall Gosling is doing well and his care team is pleased with his progress. Currently he is a little over 3 pounds! He is tolerating feeds and was just started on condensed feeds instead of continuous to get him on more of a normal feeding schedule. He is still experiencing swings in his blood oxygen but nothing super abnormal, and is being closely monitored. He's slightly down on the CPAP pressure and ranges from 23-30 on his oxygen, which is really good progress!

Our current prayer requests and needs are getting him to tolerate condensed feeds, continued progress on respiratory care, and gaining weight. We are also scrambling to get all of the housework and nesting done (and have a belated baby shower too!), as we haven't had much chance for that since getting moved up to DC. Please pray for endurance for us, as it's been a long, tiring NICU stay.

Thank you for all your encouragement, help and continued prayers.

Rachael

Just like the title says, cardiology's last echo shows his PDA has closed on its own! They were waiting on the antibiotics to finish before they could do anything, but the previous scan showed the PDA had shrunk quite a bit. Another echo on Monday came back with it being completely closed, meaning there's no longer any need for medical intervention (piccolo device or surgery). We always knew it was a possibility, but we'd pretty much given up on that option when he got transferred up to DC. Turns out, he just needed a couple of weeks, which he only got because of his infection from the PICC line pushing everything back. Never thought we'd be thanking God for sepsis, but here we are.

That being said, he is facing some new issues even with the PDA out of the way. Over the weekend, his oxygen levels plummeted to the point they had to up him to 100% support, and even then he was still struggling. They added an oscillator to boost the rate rather than the pressure, as they were worried upping the pressure could strain his lungs too much. When that didn't work, they swapped to a Jet Ventilator, which they hoped would be easier on his system. It helped, but not enough to justify continuing with it, so they backed off to just the regular ventilator again. Thankfully, he made a sudden improvement after that, to the point they are continuing to reduce the oxygen support for him. They'd like to work towards removing the breathing tube entirely if he keeps progressing, as he's already at high risk for BPD (chronic lung disease common in premature babies). He should grow out of that in time, but the less obstacles he has to clear, the better.

Currently, we're also dealing with two new issues, though they may be related. One of their goals right now is just to get him growing, as a lot of his problems should lessen as he continues developing. He's up to around 14 inches long and 2 pounds 10 ounces (from 12 inches long and 1 pound 6.8 ounces at birth), so progress has been good. However, he recently started having issues with his feedings and began throwing up most of it. Not sure why, but his stomach was distended quite a bit at the time. They took him off feeds briefly and let his stomach and bowels vent a bit, which has really helped. Feeding has just restarted, so we're hoping he can keep it down now and get back on the right track.

The other issue is that his resting heart rate has been a lot lower than normal. He's still active and causing all sorts of chaos, but it seems to want to hover close to 100 bpm (was around 150 before, which is more normal for his age/size). Cardio came back and ran some tests, but they said they didn't see anything concerning. He does dip below 100 here and there, but not often and he always recovers just fine on his own. For now, the plan is to just continue monitoring him and seeing if it course corrects on his own (like his PDA). We're quickly learning that a lot of preemie issues are in the "not normal but not unusual" category.

All in all, it's been a chaotic rollercoaster these last several days, but seeing his biggest complication clear up on its own is a huge relief and gives us hope that we're back on the upward trend. With his earlier oxygen issues and lengthy time on the breathing tube, we're likely going to be here for at least a few more weeks to help with any lingering respiratory issues. Might even be here until he's ready to go home at this point. Not the news we were hoping for (we really miss being home), but we'll do whatever the little guy needs to get him through this and ready to come home where he belongs.

P.S. - His 2 month birthday is this Saturday. To celebrate, we're asking you all to share this page with everyone you know. It looks like all three of us will be in DC longer than originally planned, so anything you all can do to help is greatly appreciated. And make sure to keep praying. We know we haven't gotten this far on our own, just like we know we won't be crossing that finish line alone.

We've had a few bumps in the road, but overall, our little Gosling is getting there. His infection responded well to the antibiotics, and we've now had back to back negative tests, meaning the infection should be cleared. Antibiotics will still continue to the two week mark to ensure it stays gone, but he's definitely been doing better with that out of the way.

Despite overcoming that major hurdle, there have still been some struggles along the way. He's been rather tired and sluggish recently, with his heart rate and oxygen levels dropping here and there. After multiple incidents, including some rather severe drops, they decided to intubate him again yesterday. He's also been struggling with his food since they restarted feeds, especially once they fortified the milk with extra calories. He had a bit of reflux, which may have contributed to his sudden drop in vitals, so they backed off the fortification for a bit. Restarted today with a lower level, so hoping that'll help ease him into the full feedings so we can work on getting that weight up (getting close to a kilogram).

In the meantime, Gosling has started perking up again, mainly to remind us how feisty and crazy he can be. Pulling off the temperature lead was just a warm-up, it seems. Yesterday, he managed to get ahold of his feeding tube and pull it out. New one had to be run through his nose. You'd think he'd have learned from that experience, but instead, he's just decided he needs a new challenge. Multiple times today, even after being wrapped up and swaddled as tightly and securely as they could get him, he kept managing to wriggle a hand free and grab onto the first thing he could reach...his breathing tube. We caught him at least three times grabbing hold of it. Thankfully, he hasn't been able to do anything with it, but he made sure we knew what he's capable of. There are now two hospitals referring to him as Houdini, as there seems to be no binding he can't escape.

Even with all that going on, he's still on track for treatment of his PDA once the antibiotics are done. Cardiology will be coming back to do another scan at that point. Then, they should be proceeding with the piccolo device to close the PDA, which we're hoping will solve a lot of the issues we've been fighting. Fingers are still crossed that we'll be able to get the all clear and transferred back to Mary Washington around the end of the month. The Ronald McDonald House is nice and all, but it's not home. Looking forward to getting back and working on his room in the hopes of welcoming him home before the end of July and being able to put this whole ordeal behind us once and for all.

Wanted to give you all some updates on baby Gosling's journey, but first, we just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone so far. We're honestly amazed at all the love and support for us and our little guy. We've definitely had a lot of both good and bad days, but knowing we've got people cheering us on each step of the way has been a huge encouragement.

First of all, happy six weeks birthday to Gosling! I'm not sure if it's harder to believe he's already six weeks old or that it's only been six weeks of camping out in hospitals by his side. Either way, the little milestones are always important to celebrate. He's currently got his own room in the Children's Hospital NICU in DC, where they're trying to close the PDA in his heart that's been the cause of a lot of issues. Another round of Tylenol treatment failed to close it (worked before, but they warned us it might not this time), but he got approved for the piccolo device treatment instead of full surgery, which is a big plus. That's on hold for the moment, though, as we had a pretty major setback a few days ago.

While we know they've dealt with it a thousand times before, it's never good to hear the word Sepsis thrown around. It looks like he got an infection from the PICC line they put in (to replace the IVs that have to be changed pretty regularly). Early Thursday morning, we received a call from the NICU that his oxygen levels had plummeted and they ended up having to intubate him for the first time ever. They started him on antibiotics almost immediately, suspecting an infection, while they ran a lengthy list of tests to find the culprit. He was pretty calm and quiet when we went to see him, which was very unusual for him. Normally, he's flailing all four limbs and ready for a fight anytime someone gets close. Feisty little guy. You could tell instantly that something was off.

Thankfully, they found what was bothering him pretty quickly and the antibiotics they started him on included one that is very effective for this specific infection. They've scaled back on the others to focus on just that now, and he's already seeing huge improvement. The breathing tube came out Saturday and his oxygen levels with lower support is still doing fantastic. They removed the PICC and cleaned the site, but their specialized wound team will be in later today to inspect. The infection hasn't gone away fully yet, but they expect a few days to be enough to finish it off, with additional days of treatment afterwards to make sure it stays away. He's resumed feedings as well, though only at a lesser level right now to make sure he tolerates it before they slowly increase toward his target rate. Definitely doing a lot better than a few days ago. In fact, he's improved so much that they even let him out of the box for nearly an hour! Mom got to hold him again, which he really seemed to enjoy (which mom enjoyed as well). Once they finish up the antibiotics, they'll proceed with the piccolo treatment and hopefully put this PDA problem behind us at last.

On another bright note, we moved into the Ronald McDonald House on Sunday! Instead of driving two hours each way to see him, we're now only two miles from the hospital. And to answer the most common question I've gotten, yes, they do have free McDonald's food provided (Macca's for those of you Down Under). While we miss our house and our pets, home is where the heart is, which means home is currently 2 miles away. Still hoping we can get transferred back to Mary Washington in Fredericksburg once they're satisfied with his PDA treatment.

Again, we're really grateful for everyone rallying around us as we eagerly await the day we can bring Gosling back to the nest. With any luck, he might even get to celebrate his three month birthday at home. Whatever comes our way, we'll be right by his side. The road may be long and bumpy, but it'll all be worth it when we reach the end.