Day 18 of Life - July 6th

Ma's appointment with Dr. M went well. He was really pleased with the progress of her incision and said that it looks 6 weeks old, instead of 2! He also told her that she should do what she thinks is best with the medication, especially until her follow-up appointment with IM, but that if her diastolic goes over 100 to start taking the medication again. She has another appointment in about 4 weeks' time.

Well, Little Sha is once again proving to be difficult, but this time, not in a good way. Last night, when Ma walked into the NICU after her appointment, they were hand-bagging the little one. Ma stood quietly by while the NICU staff did his breathing manually for him, until they got him stabilized. He was basically having apnea (when he forgets to breathe) and bradycardia (when his heart slows down). These episodes usually go hand-in-hand and could potentially be caused by his PDA. He is stable now, but they have had to increase his flow rate to 56 and his oxygen to 40%. They were considering putting him back on the high frequency ventilator this morning, but as of right now, he continues on the conventional vent. Since they have turned up his flow rate, though, he hasn't had any more spells.

He has had his chest X-ray and head ultrasound today. The chest X-ray showed that his lungs are very damaged, which is to be expected, considering he's not really supposed to be using them yet. The good thing about lung tissue, however, is that it regenerates itself very quickly and easily, so hopefully, when his oxygen requirements come down, they will start to heal. The official head ultrasound results should be available tomorrow.

The docs will likely start him on Indomethacin again over the weekend. They hope that it will close the PDA, but are prepared to discuss surgery with Ma and Pa on Monday, if necessary. Even if it does work, though, there is always a chance that it will re-open.

The good news is that the little one has now been increased to 3 cc of breastmilk every 2 hours. Despite all of the stress he's under, food seems to be the one thing that he can handle!!! He's comfortable and is now tolerating handling, as he was quite irritable this morning. Even a little guy, such as him, is entitled to be grumpy once in awhile!

I stopped in to see him on my way home from work and he looks really good. His little mouth is a cute little bow...although until now, I never really understood what that meant...but his is perfect. Every time I see him, he looks a little heavier...which is a really good sign. I took some pics with Ma and Pa's camera, although not as good as what Pa does, and hopefully I will have them posted tomorrow.