Anthony Showing Off His Baby Blues
It's pretty late and we've just returned from our visit to the NICU to see the boys. Both of them are doing well and are nice and stable.
Jared is cruising along and since the removal of the mucus from his chest has had fewer spells. In fact, he only had one spell for each shift nurse today. His Ibuprofen treatment continues to its last dose tomorrow. For now he is tolerating it well. All of his baselines are stable, and his urine output has only dropped a little, which is expected.
We are hopeful his follow up echocardiagram will show a closed PDA. Keep in mind though, that even if it closes for now, it could re-open. According to Dr. Bassiri, PDAs can open and close, and open and close. In fact, it is possible for a 1 year old child to have an open PDA that requires medication or surgery.
Jared remains on the CPAP at room air, and is still off the light therapy for jaundice. It is so nice to see him without his sunglasses, but I have to say both of them look so cute with them on. They looked like little snowboarders!
Anthony is still stable and his spells seem to have abated a little since yesterday. These spells are disconcerting for Momma and Daddy because when they happen alarms all over the place go off, the heart rate slows, and the oxygen saturation in the blood drops. I had to get more education about these things so I asked Dr. Bassiri. According to him they are nothing to worry about. Apnic episodes (times when they stop breathing or the heart slows) are common, and expected with preemies. It is important to let them work their way through these episodes and grow out of them.
The bottom line is that Dr. Bassiri told us not to fret about them, so we won't (as much). I don't care what anyone says, when those alarms go off we will worry.
We learned tonight that Anthony has a Grade 1 bleed in his brain. He had a head ultrasound on the day he was born and none since. No bleeds showed up on that day, so it must have occured between then and now. Since we don't have a baseline scan, we don't know if this bleed has gotten bigger or smaller. The bleed is only on one side however, and given that it is a Grade 1 bleed is of little concern at this point. Like Jared, the doctors will continue to scan their heads once a week and check the status. So long as they don't get bigger they should take care of themselves.
In positive news, Anthony is tolerating his feeds very well. So well in fact that they have increased them from 1cc every six hours to 1cc every three hours. It is crucial that he tolerate feedings and get more of Momma's breast milk. Dr. Bassiri tells us that though they get nutrition via I.V., they really improve when fed normally, especially when the food is breast milk.
Dr. Bassiri mentioned tonight that most of what neo-natal doctors do is "an art, not a science." I thought that was an odd thing to hear from a doctor until he explained a bit more. He clarified the remark by saying that essentially treatment on preemies like our boys is observational and responsive. The doctor tonight told us that the boys are doing 95% of what is keeping them alive. Nurse Mary puts it this way: "We only help when they raise their hands."
If you think about this for a second it is remarkable. What a testament to the resiliency of human life, and to the power of God! Our little boys came out so early, yet so complete. Though their bodies are very immature, they still have the tools to sustain life and grow.
Indeed they are little Fighters, because that's how God made all of us.
Jared is cruising along and since the removal of the mucus from his chest has had fewer spells. In fact, he only had one spell for each shift nurse today. His Ibuprofen treatment continues to its last dose tomorrow. For now he is tolerating it well. All of his baselines are stable, and his urine output has only dropped a little, which is expected.
We are hopeful his follow up echocardiagram will show a closed PDA. Keep in mind though, that even if it closes for now, it could re-open. According to Dr. Bassiri, PDAs can open and close, and open and close. In fact, it is possible for a 1 year old child to have an open PDA that requires medication or surgery.
Jared remains on the CPAP at room air, and is still off the light therapy for jaundice. It is so nice to see him without his sunglasses, but I have to say both of them look so cute with them on. They looked like little snowboarders!
Anthony is still stable and his spells seem to have abated a little since yesterday. These spells are disconcerting for Momma and Daddy because when they happen alarms all over the place go off, the heart rate slows, and the oxygen saturation in the blood drops. I had to get more education about these things so I asked Dr. Bassiri. According to him they are nothing to worry about. Apnic episodes (times when they stop breathing or the heart slows) are common, and expected with preemies. It is important to let them work their way through these episodes and grow out of them.
The bottom line is that Dr. Bassiri told us not to fret about them, so we won't (as much). I don't care what anyone says, when those alarms go off we will worry.
We learned tonight that Anthony has a Grade 1 bleed in his brain. He had a head ultrasound on the day he was born and none since. No bleeds showed up on that day, so it must have occured between then and now. Since we don't have a baseline scan, we don't know if this bleed has gotten bigger or smaller. The bleed is only on one side however, and given that it is a Grade 1 bleed is of little concern at this point. Like Jared, the doctors will continue to scan their heads once a week and check the status. So long as they don't get bigger they should take care of themselves.
In positive news, Anthony is tolerating his feeds very well. So well in fact that they have increased them from 1cc every six hours to 1cc every three hours. It is crucial that he tolerate feedings and get more of Momma's breast milk. Dr. Bassiri tells us that though they get nutrition via I.V., they really improve when fed normally, especially when the food is breast milk.
Dr. Bassiri mentioned tonight that most of what neo-natal doctors do is "an art, not a science." I thought that was an odd thing to hear from a doctor until he explained a bit more. He clarified the remark by saying that essentially treatment on preemies like our boys is observational and responsive. The doctor tonight told us that the boys are doing 95% of what is keeping them alive. Nurse Mary puts it this way: "We only help when they raise their hands."
If you think about this for a second it is remarkable. What a testament to the resiliency of human life, and to the power of God! Our little boys came out so early, yet so complete. Though their bodies are very immature, they still have the tools to sustain life and grow.
Indeed they are little Fighters, because that's how God made all of us.
Fight On, Little Fighters! - Love Daddy
No comments:
Post a Comment