Finn is three weeks old today.

He’s had an eventful past 24 hours or so, with a number of spells yesterday morning and early afternoon prompting the NICU team to order labs and hold his feeds (after he’d just started up again about 36 hours prior). They were essentially trying to figure out whether Finn was just having a “bad day” or whether he might be fighting an infection.  A culture from his breathing tube showed some bacteria, though his blood tests came back with generally normal hematocrit and white blood count numbers, and as the neonatologist said, “He doesn’t appear sick” — meaning that he was being his regular old feisty self, moving and squirming all around.  They had started him on an antibiotic prophylactically  yesterday afternoon, and will continue that course for at least the next week to treat Finn as if he has pneumonia; it’s not clear that he actually does, but as of last night, he had improved considerably while on the antibiotics, so that seems to be the most prudent course moving forward.

After all of the blood tests yesterday, Finn is getting another blood transfusion (his fifth) today to try to restore his volume of red blood cells. They have also made some adjustments to his meds, increasing his caffeine (in large part to readjust for his recent weight gain) and reducing the volume of his fentanyl drip.

After Finn completed his second round of indomethacin on Tuesday, August 9, a follow up echo showed that the PDA, while still open, was “trivial,” which was a good sign. Neither the nurses nor the neonatologist heard a heart murmur over the past few days, though it sounds like there is a slight murmur today, so it’s something that bears watching. The PDA tends to open and close rather fluidly, and so we’ll likely see a follow up echo in the next week to check on its status.

Today, as Finn turns three weeks old the same day Dermot turns two years old, Finn is now over two pounds. He won’t be able to have a cupcake today like his older brother, but he just restarted his feeds at 4 mL every 3 hours after an ultrasound of his belly showed no issues there. The plan is to advance him rather quickly if he’s digesting well.

Finn’s milestones over the past few days include:

• On Wednesday, August 10, Finn weighed in at 910 grams, putting him over the 2 pound mark for the first time.