Day 6 of Life - June 24th

There's not too much to report about little Sha this morning. He had a pretty quiet night. His oxygen requirements are up a little...but the docs aren't really concerned and say that it's pretty normal. So far, his tummy is taking Ma's breastmilk with no problems. Although some of you may want more info about the little one, please remember that in Sha's case, no news is good news!

Some premature babies cannot handle actual food and can develop something called Necrotizing Enterocolitis (or NEC). Basically, their little systems cannot handle the digestion of the food and it causes inflammation of the bowel, which can eventually lead to the death of some of the bowel tissue. In these cases, surgery is often needed to remove the dead tissue. However, this only affects 1-5% of NICU admissions and so far, is not affecting our little Sha. This is one of the things that the docs are hoping to avoid and are watching very closesly for at this time.

IM came to see Ma again today. They want to try a different drug to get control of her blood pressure. (Even on the "elephant-size" dose, it is still high.) However, they need to find another drug that will not affect her breast milk. So, IM is searching for such a drug and hopefully, will be able to find something more effective that will not impair her pumping. IM said that they would see her tomorrow, which of course means that she won't be able to break out of "prison" today.

When Ma was approximately 15, she had a seizure at the summer camp she was working at. At that time, they said that it was due to heat stroke, but in retrospect, Ma is beginning to wonder if it was actually due to her blood pressure. Of course, there's absolutely no way to prove this...but it is interesting to consider!