Chunky Monkey

Day 29

Well, I'm not quite sure how to categorize Emma's day overall.  There are a lot things that keep going up and down and back and forth, so every day some things get better and some get a little worse.  Emma was still de-satting quite a bit today, her urine output is still slightly low, her glucose levels are too high, her sodium levels are too low... so all of these things together could mean infection.  But at the same time, Emma's blood gases look good (these are blood samples taken that are measured for the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood, among other things).  Therefore, the doctors thought that it likely was an infection since her gases were good but she was still de-satting.  The doctors even wanted to lower her pressure on the vent some more since the gases were good but the nurses thought it wasn't a good idea because of all the desaturations.  So they decided to do some bloodwork to check for infection. 

Well, the bloodwork came back tonight and it doesn't look like she has an infection.  Her white blood cell count is normal and some other markers are within the normal range as well.  Her hermatocrits are low again though, so she is getting another blood transfusion tonight.  She is also getting some additional sodium to help elevate those levels.  Also, after checking in with the nurses tonight, they did end up lowering her pressure on the vent since she was satting a little better, and the blood transfusion will help as well.  So overall, nothing seems too serious, just some things are too high or too low, but they are basically just going to keep an eye on it all and see what happens.  There is not really any one explanation for everything going on, other than the fact that she is a teeny tiny preemie and is still growing and working through all of these things.  So again, we'll just wait and see what tomorrow brings! 

Emma also had a head ultrasound done yesterday to check for any intraventricular hemorrhages ("IVH", meaning bleeding into the ventricles of the brain).  This was done after her birth, about a week after her birth, and again at about a month old.  Thankfully, they have all been completely normal and show no bleeding!  This is another very common but very serious condition for preemies and we're very thankful that Emma does not have any bleeds. 

Also, I have neglected to mention that Emma has been packing on the grams lately!  She has been gaining every day, and tonight gained another 40 grams which brings her up to 720 grams!!!  That is just shy of 1 pound, 10 ounces!!!  Wowza!  And to help her even more, they increased her feeds to 4.5 mL/hour, so hopefully she'll keep on gaining - can't wait for her to hit the two pound mark!! 

Emma was very excited to see Grandma and Aunt Lauren today.  She loved her new hats that Grandma made for her - she has quite the hat collection going now!!  Her Grandmas are too good to her.  =) 

I see you!