Mommy and Daddy are very tired again tonight so Little Lauren is spared the interruption of her sleep that their visits inevitably bring. When we called to check on her, we were told that she is sleeping like, well... a baby! After her earlier feeds they measured the amount of feed remaining in the stomach (residual) to see how fast she is processing the breast milk. There was a significant amount remaining, so they are going to hold off on the night feedings and check again in the morning. Also, her official weigh-in was 1 lb 4.8 oz, another small increase. Let's hope she continues to make progress, even in small increments, so that she is stronger when the next problem arises. Problems always come up when kids are this small, and we can only pray that they are as manageable as the previous ones have been. Her red blood cell count came up nicely after the last transfusion, but her platelets are still below normal and constitute a risk for excessive or uncontrolled bleeding due to an impaired clotting ability. She might have to be transfused with a unit of platelets if the levels get much lower. She has not had any more episodes of Apnea (no breathing) and/or Bradycardia (A's & B's) since the mucous was suctioned from the back of her throat. Good going, baby girl....
10/11/01 11:30AM:
Good news today: Baby Lauren is off the nasal CPAP prongs and is now on a little nasal cannula. She is breathing well without the CPAP and her oxygen level is good. This morning she had three bradycardic episodes after she was taken off the CPAP. The nurse said her red blood cells are low again and she will need another transfusion today or tomorrow. Tomorrow Dr. Bufo is going to insert a central IV line in her shoulder beneath her clavicle and the IV in her groin will come out - lessening the risk of infection. Lauren was lying on her side with a tiny pillow between her knees, a position that Mommy often sleeps in.
10/11/01 11:50PM:
Lauren was sleeping soundly when Daddy arrived at the NICU and, of course, he woke her up! Her face is looks more beautiful now that it is not so squished by the CPAP prongs. Althought her hair is dark, her eyebrows are quite a bit lighter. She was on her stomach and I could see all the fuzz on her back - it's dark. Daddy jokes that Lauren inherited Mommy's spunk and Daddy's back hair.Her official weigh-in today was 1 lb, 5.6 oz, a nice increase. Lauren got her transfusion today - THANK YOU!!! Her red blood cell and platelet counts are up. She is still on her nasal cannula with very little extra oxygen being given (25%) and she is not working too hard to breathe. She is still, however, having A's & B's (apnea & bradycardia) episodes, some of which she has to be manually stimulated to get her breathing again. Today the gave her small amounts of water down the gastric tube twice and her stomach processed it well, so they went back to small amounts of Mommy's milk every three hours. When they checked for residuals, there was very little, so they are continuing the regimen. The central line placement is scheduled for tomorrow morning and they have the bed all set up. Apparently it only takes 10-15 minutes and it is done under fluoroscopy, a "moving" x-ray that allows the surgeon to see where the central IV catheter goes. One of the risks of the procedure is a pneumothorax, or a hole in the lung. It doesn't happen often, but if it does, they will have to put a tube into her chest through the chest wall (on the side between two of her ribs) in order to evacuate the air that will be leaking out of her lung and into the chest cavity. Let's all pray it goes well...
10/12/01 11:50AM:
The line placement went well! Dr. Bufo had the central IV line in her right jugular vein in 7 minutes with no complications! The other central IV in her right groin was taken out and the site looks good. Lauren is still on her nasal cannula and is still getting small amounts of Mommy's milk down her gastric tube. She is still having periods of apnea and bradycardia, however. Mommy got to rub cream on Lauren's back today and Daddy looked under the diaper and patted her skiny bottom. Don't worry Lauren, with your genes there's no danger of you not having a butt!!! We were told today that after the arterial line in her left wrist is discontinued, we could start Kangaroo care, where we get to hold her on our chest with skin-to-skin contact. It sounds like a great way to further bond with our precious little angel.