Baby Lauren is having a good day today. Mommy was right when she said Lauren looks less swollen. Her weight last night was 2 lbs, 6.8 oz - the drop in weight was due to fluid that she got rid of. They took out the IV from her scalp vein, and so far they haven't put in another peripheral line. She is still getting her TPN feeds through the central line in her right jugular vein. They started feeding her 2 cc's at a time last night and she has been tolerating them with small residual volumes. Her vent settings were lowered some more and she is tolerating the change well. Baby Lauren looks beautiful now that her face is filled out and we can "do" her hair with the toothbrush. Daddy took some more pictures and he will be putting them up at the new pictures site within a day or so. The nurse said that Lauren's platelets have come up to 77 from 26. They are still abnormally low, however, (should be in the 100's) and her red blood cell count is starting to drop a little again, so they might just transfuse her within a day or two. I wonder what she will weigh tonight? Mommy is working tonight, and when she finds out, Daddy will post it
11/11/01 1:30AM:
Daddy checked in by phone and was told that Lauren is sleeping peacefully. Her feedings have been increased to 3 cc's at a time and she is tolerating them well. Her vent settings are for low support, and there is talk of extubating her sometime tomorrow. I hope so.
11/11/01 10:30PM:
Baby Lauren weighed 2 lbs, 8 oz last night, but she does not look as swollen. There was a little blood coming from one of the stomas, so they held the feedings for a couple of hours but then restarted them. She is still tolerating them well at 3 cc's. The big news today was that they extubated her and took her off the vent. She started having apnea and bradycardia episodes so they put her on nasal CPAP . She still had some episodes, so they switched her to regular nasal cannula prongs. While we visited tonight, she was still having apneic episodes, so they put her back on the nasal CPAP prongs. If she gets much worse I am afraid she will be reintubated and put back on the vent. She is not getting any theophylline now, though, so they might start her on that to keep her respiratory system stimulated. Tonight we heard our little girl again, and it sounds just as beautiful as I remember. Stay strong, Baby Lauren.
11/12/01 10:00AM:
Lauren had a rough night. She kept having apnea and bradycardia episodes all night, but luckily they didn't have to put her back on the vent. The neonatologist says that she will get a blood transfusion today since her platelets are still low and her red blood cells are now low as well. She is still on nasal CPAP. She weighed 2 lbs, 7.4 oz last night, probably due to her getting rid of more excess fluids. She doesn't look as swollen as she has been.
11/12/01 9:00PM:
Lauren has had a great day so far. They transfused her with 1 unit (12 cc's) of directed donor blood (THANK YOU!!!) and started her on theophylline. She had a few A's & B's after the transfusion was done and the theophylline was started, but she has really improved. They took her off the nasal CPAP and put her on a regular cannula at 38% oxygen. She tolerated that well and now she is down to 30% oxygen. They also increased the feedings to 5 cc's at a time and she is tolerating them very well. She is putting out stool from her stoma again and her urine output is good. Tonight she weighed 2 lbs, 6 oz, and she does not look swollen at all to Mommy. She is breathing without much effort and is resting peacefully. G'night, Baby...
11/13/01 6:00PM:
Lauren continues to do well. She is now down to 28% oxygen via nasal cannula at 1-1/2 liters per minute and she has not had any apnea today. She is tolerating the 5 cc feedings with no residuals. Her surgical wound looks like it is healing well. Her stoma continues to pass yellowish stools. Her urine output is still normal, and she looks like she has lost more fluid. when Daddy woke her up to brush her hair, she cried a little bit, then she took her left hand and brought it to her face and started sucking her thumb!!! She quieted down right away. She really likes the preemie pacifier and sucks on it like there's no tomorrow. I don't think we're going to have any problems with her breastfeeding later on...