RSV

Well... it doesn't look like we will be headed home anytime soon. :-( Last Thursday one of the other babies in the pod we are in got sick with RSV. It is a respiratory virus that most kids will get at least once before the age of 2. For most, it plays out like a bad cold, but for these little guys with a rough respiratory start anyways, it can be really bad. The same night the other baby got sick, both Emerson and another "neighbor" were having trouble with their temperature and o2 saturation. They did a bunch of blood cultures and other tests and put him on antibiotics "just in case" he was starting to get something. All of the cultures came back fine after 48 hours and they took him off the antibiotics. Today we find out that his nasal swab for RSV came back positive. The strange thing though was at the time they told us that, he was still acting perfectly fine... no symptoms whatsoever, still eating fine, etc. No sooner did the test come back, than he started showing symptoms of being sick. He has been moved to an isolation room for the remainder of his NICU stay (or for three weeks - whichever comes first!) He is back on oxygen and we are hoping that we can avoid having to go back on the ventilator. :-(