Busy Beckett

There is no rest for the weary: Beckett's busy day continues.

I came to see Beckett this evening as Mandy is having the girls over tonight. Naturally I was talking to the nurse about his day. She said his hematocrit was lower today than it was the first time he got a blood transfusion (26.3 today vs 26.8 last time). They determined that this is why he was having trouble with the low oxygen saturation that caused them to have to turn up the oxygen levels in his CPAP.

This will be Beckett's second blood transfusion. I'm definitely not excited that he needs another blood transfusion, but I am very glad that they figured out why he's been having so much trouble with his sats (oxygen saturation) the past day or two. And I'm even more glad that it can be fixed as easily as a blood transfusion.

I still remember getting the call from the hospital when Ellie needed her blood transfusion. It was around midnight and we were very worried because to be getting a call from the hospital at that time of night.  It's not as scary this time. With Ellie though, it was a bit of a relief when we found out it was a blood transfusion that she needed. At least it was better than the unknown. But at least for me I think it's a bit more worrying this time. I'm not worried about anything in particular. I know that this is going to help him keep his sats up. But it is another reminder that he is so tiny and needs a lot of help to make it through. That makes me worry and wonder about what else might be coming down the road. But just as Mandy was reminding me this afternoon we need to trust God with the things we can't control (and even with the things we think we can).

Well there's another big difference with this blood transfusion: I get to watch. This is the third time one of my kids has had one and I've never been here for it. This time I'm here to cheer him on. He had 3 or 4 desats in the first twenty minutes that I was here (one with a drop in heart rate). I kept telling him he would feel better soon. I promised. So this transfusion had better work.

As of right now (9:30) his sats are up and he has only had one desat since the transfusion started at 9:00. The transfusion is 20 mL over 3 hours. So he's only received 1/6 the blood so far. The nurse said it can have an effect this quickly. She said in another half hour she'll take his vitals again. If they're still good she'll start turning down his oxygen. Right now it's at 33% with 6 cm of pressure. I'm going to have to do a tech spotlight on this CPAP thingy, but in the meantime let's just say the more cm, the higher the pressure of air going into his lungs. The nurse said it's not uncommon for babies to go all the way back to 21% oxygen (same percentage as room air) after a transfusion. Come to think of it, he used to be on 21%. Then they had to increase it a little but it was still in the low twenties. Then they had to increase it a little more, but it was still in the upper twenties. Then the last couple of days ... well it got as high as 37% today, and like I said it's at 33% right now.

Breaking News: His oxygen saturation just went down to about 81% and set off the alarm. But now it's back up to 94%. So maybe he's still figuring out what to do with all this new blood.

By the way, many thanks to Carter Blood Care for providing the life giving blood for my son. Remind me to make an appointment with them to give blood tomorrow. And this is me reminding you to give blood too! For reasons unclear to me, Beckett is getting O negative blood. That's a valuable commodity! His blood type is A positive, so I don't know why they wouldn't give him A positive or O positive. But I am all the more thankful. Special thanks to all those O negative people out there who have given blood. Beckett is getting a shiny sticker today in your honor.