Gavin's strength

              On Saturday the 19th we went the hospital in the morning to visit with Aiden and Gavin. Aiden was as feisty as ever, giving the nurses an earful and attempting the push their hands out of the way during changings and feedings. Gavin was stable, still on the oscillator with hopes that once his CO2 levels were within range that he would go back on the regular ventilator and soon the c-pap.
              We decided that since there were no changes we would head into Seattle with some friends. I had not really seen Seattle since we moved here in mid December. We went to the aquarium, a local seafood place and Pikes Place Market. I was exhausted by the end of the day but it felt good to be out with my husband. He has been very supportive and easy to talk to if I feel like I've met my limit for the day, which on this day I definitely did.
              We went straight to the hospital to visit with the boys before going home. I pumped along the way, not wanting to miss a moment with my boys once we got there. We spent sometime with both boys and then decided to go home for some much needed rest after our adventurous day. We got a call around 1030pm from the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Elaina telling us that Gavin's blood pressure was dangerously low and they started him on dopamine right away and had sent blood off to run a variety of tests to find out why his blood pressure was suddenly dropping. We went straight to the hospital Sunday morning to be with Gavin. The nurse practitioner Laurie was on and had evaluated his blood test results and came in to go over them with us. She told us that it was a very bad bacterial infection. Somehow he had gotten e. coli! We were in shock, not knowing how this could happen. She said there were a variety of ways it could have happened and there's no way of pin pointing exactly when it happened. She went on to tell us that he "may not survive this infection". Sean and I both started balling our eyes out. How could this happen!? After the initial shock and disbelief. Sean called his aunt for some positive words. He came back in and firmly told me, "we are going to be strong for him and watch him fight this. We had to go through so much over the years we've been married and we made it and are stronger. He's a fighter. He's going to pull through this and be so much stronger!" I knew he was right. Gavin needs us more than ever. Since the awful news the doctor started him on several drugs to help his body produce more white blood cells to fight this infection, started his on several antibiotics, and continued the dopamine for his blood pressure.
            Monday morning we went to visit with the boys and Gavin looked 10x better. His color was gray the day before and Monday he was pink and opened his eyes a little bit for us. He wasn't going to let this infection get to him! We are so proud of our little boy! Now we just have to pray that he kicks this infection soon. The doctors and NP project that once the infection is gone his lungs will be able to recover properly allowing him to expel CO2 properly and transition to the regular ventilator.
            We pray that Gavin and Aiden both continue to receive warm wishes and powerful prayers to allow them to get better.