Urgent Prayer Request For Joshua

Joshua had a rough night last night.  I'll give more info than you probably want, for my medical friends following along.  Starting at midnight, every hour he had an episode of bradycardia (heart rate dropping) along with apnea (breath holding).  The apnea is a new thing.  The past couple of days, he had the bradycardia episodes, which is not at all concerning when that's all there is.  But the apnea associated with it is indicative of something bigger going on, such as an infection.  They got a CBC (complete blood count) that showed a left shift with 14% bands, which  means he has an infection of some sort.  They drew blood cultures, urine cultures, KUB (xray of his abdomen), stopped his feeds to rest his bowel, started a peripheral IV, and started him on two "big gun" antibiotics, vancomycin and gentamycin to treat everything. 

There is a chance it's a UTI (urinary tract infection), but most likely it's an infection in his PICC line (catheter in the vein in his foot that gives him his nutrition).  Also on the differential is nec (necrotizing entercolitis, a rare but serious condition where the intestines die from lack of blood flow), definitely what we don't want.  At first nec was one of their top two possibilities (along with infection in the PICC line) because his abdomen was tense and distended.  His xray showed  no free air under the diaphragm, which would be diagnostic for nec, so that's a good thing.  However, the bowel loops were dilated, so that could be early nec, or an ileus (intestinal obstruction).  They are going to repeat the xray at 4:00 today to see if things have progressed or improved.  If it looks good, they'll restart his breast milk feeds through the NG tube. 

Basically, we don't know exactly what we're dealing with right now except for some kind of infection.  Last night, Joshua was crying vigorously when I changed his diaper, which was a normal reaction to being messed with. This morning, when they were poking and prodding him with catheters and needles, he didn't even flinch. He was pretty lethargic. That worries us.  He has been sleeping ever since the tests were done, which isn't unusual since he sleeps most of the day.  The fact that he is on vanc and gent means it's something serious because those are not antibiotics to be taken lightly.  Any infection in a preemie this small is serious, so we are pretty concerned.  He was looking so amazing last night that I let my guard down.  That's how it is in the NICU.  One minute you think it's smooth sailing, and the next minute something serious can come up.  I was hoping we would somehow be immune to the bad stuff. 

Please keep this little guy in your prayers.  Specifically...  1.  That we get some answers soon.  2.  The antibiotics kick in right away, so that he'll be comfortable and not sick.  3.  That he doesn't have nec.  4.  That he pulls through this quickly, so he can focus on growing and progressing toward graduation from the NICU.
I'll post an update when we get more information. 
Thank you!!!!!!