Update

Harrison has been moved to a standard Iso room, and has dropped off one antibiotic, so this is good, but the bad news is that he started vomiting tonight, as we have been force feeding him liquids in an effort to get his gut going again.

If this force feedng doesn't work, we will have to put in - and for the very first time- a nasal gastric tube to get some fluids and nutrition into him. I sincerely hope this is not an option we have to take up.

He has diarrhoea still, which is not good, and he is still very sleepy but is having more periods of wakefulness so I am hopeful he will recover soon. Mum has switched places with me tonight to give me a break and I really needed some time with the kids as I knew they were getting very anxious.

I had a lovely visit from my work friends yesterday - thanks for the cupcakes - they were a major part of my dinner and coping with blood tests being done!! :) And thanks to Donna, Jodie, Joanne and Nicola for keeping me sane with calls and sms messages checking how things are going.. also Nicola and Dave added Marlie , Sterling and Ella to their 3 last night and had them stay over while I was with Harrison and Mum worked. The kids really enjoyed the time away and were so excited telling me about staying there, again my thanks to Nicola and Dave for this.

Scott has called up each day to ask after Harrison and check on his progress.

Harrison is having a lot of difficulty having his blood being taken, as no central line means they have to take the bloods in the normal way, thru a vein. I remember as a baby how much trouble we had taking his blood this way, and a few months ago the line stuffed up and we had the same trouble taking bloods "peripherally" ( Via a vein). In the last 2 days he has had 2 tests taken to check his levels as things are very all over the place at the moment and some of his levels are very low. It has taken 8 attempts to get enough blood to be able to test. That is 8 separate goes at various veins. If you are horrified at this - imagine being there each and every time to hold him down screaming to have them done. In the end last night I very nearly cried as they finally hit a vein that gave just enough to test with. One doctor suggested he was a candidate for having a new central line or like put back in to enable bloods to be done.

God forbid this should happen, and I have to admit this kind of rocked me. I left the room post testing last night at nearly 8.30pm, had a coffee, cried my eyes out for a few minutes and went back with a more positive "can do" attitude to all this. I know it has to be done, and I know the only way to truly monitor him is to have regular blood testing done, but it makes me sick when they come in , again, to try again for more. The poor darling is sick enough, let alone this.

I have to hope that his veins are so poor due to the gastric bug, and that he is dehydrated, as opposed to him just having shitty veins. I have no idea how we will get the bigger tests done if this is the case and he doesn't have some sort of line or port put back in. But lines mean infections and we start the vicious cycle again. I tell you I am about in tears writing this, but I need to write it down and wipe my slate clean.

Also the ongoing virus of this gastric bug has meant his weight has dropped 800 grams in less than a week. He started to gain weight back yesterday and was 14.64 kg. Today he weighed in at a paltry 14.04 kg. At least he tried eating apples, so hopefully the pectin in it will help his but settle. Mum said he vomited tonight though after trying him on some neocate formula. This stuff is very elemental, so he should have tolerated it. Oh well, looks like we'll be in hospital a while yet - until at least he picks up and starts eating and drinking.

This one's not a very positive blog, but it is the truth and sometimes its good to read the bad - gives a better overall picture of what is going on.

Also the fact that I feel guilty for starting back at work and asking to make it 4 days per week as of this week , but then totally being unable to even go to work. I really thought that Harrison was past all this and so would never have committed to work knowing otherwise. I guess that is the way the cookie crumbles and another week off work- luckily with a very understanding boss. Again thanks.. :)

I will update on him again as things go - hopefully with better news than this one.