We have always known that Jacob likes to keep us on our toes and he likes things his way.  We didn’t quite realize that he also enjoyed touring different Children’s Hospitals across the country.  For a family that doesn’t really go places, or do things, Jacob sure makes the most of his limited opportunities.

As you may know, Jacob was born at Children’s Hospital of Illinois at only 23 weeks gestation.  After 2 months, once he was stable, we were flown back home to California where, after a month at a hospital in Sacramento, he was transferred to Children’s Hospital in Oakland.  What we didn’t expect, while on our trip to Philadelphia to see the specialists at IAHP, was a visit to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Jacob has been battling colds since Thanksgiving.  For the last 2 weeks, he has had a nasty cough that really only bothered him overnight.  Unfortunatly, yesterday his condition worsened, as did his cough, and he developed a fever.  So, for the first time in over 2 years post NICU, we had to take him to the ER.  Luckily, we were only about 20 minutes from one of the top Children’s Hospitals in the country.

Jacob was assessed, treated and admitted into the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.  He is still on significant supplemental oxygen, but he is much more comfortable than last night.  So far, we have been able to rule out pertussis (yay!) but we do not yet recieved the results of the viral panel.  We also do not yet know how long we will be here.  It is a “wait and see” type situation.

In the meantime, please keep our little guy in your prayers.  I will try to keep updates coming, but mostly we will be snuggling our sweet little patient.

Whoops!  I almost forgot!  Happy St Patty’s day (see Jacob’s green blanket!) and Happy Birthday Jaime!!  Auntie Pie, Uncle Bryan and Jacob love you!

****JACOB UPDATE****  Jacob has tested positive for Influenza type A.  I am so grateful that we did give him his flu shot or this could be much worse.  A reminder to all that getting your flu shot can reduce exposure to fragile little ones like Jacob.  I am also comforted to know that all of Jacob’s volunteers have had their flu shots so we dont have to worry that we exposed them to influenza either. Jacob will be given an anti-viral that is shown to reduce the duration and severity of influenza.  I hope to have more updates soon,