If Amelia cooperates, the game plan is to wean her every other day. She is currently on CPAP of 8 and is requiring about 50% oxygen. When she gets down to CPAP of 5 then they will move her to nasal cannula. However, the leap from CPAP to nasal cannula is a big one, so she may be on the CPAP of 5 for as much as a week or more. Amelia has been having trouble coordinating her breathing and passing her stool. She stops breathing and then her heart rate goes very low. She had an episode like this last night. She will definitely need to get over this before she comes home.
She weighed nearly 5 lbs. 7 oz. last night. She did not have her lasix yesterday so we suspect some fluid retention. We still have not gotten the results of the Ph probe for reflux. They did a renal ultrasound yesterday, but the results must be analyzed, but have not yet. Tomorrow will be another ROP exam. I don't think we reported last week's results...it still has not progressed and MAY have recessed a bit. She says the lesions look less red and maybe a bit white which is a sign the disease is correcting itself. She seems cautiously optomistic that she will not require eye surgery. So hooray to that!
4 comments:
Hello. My name is Cathy Chandler and I was directed to your blog by an old friend of mine, Jessica Gaston-Cook. I was amazed when I started reading your blog - it's like a mirror of my life since May 11 when my son Colin was born at 22 weeks. There are a couple of differences (Colin had two surgeries for a bowel perforation and had to have surgery for his PDA because the perforation wouldn't allow them to treat the PDA with ibuprofen), but otherwise, our experiences are extremely similar. He was 1 lb. 1 oz. at birth and is now up to 1 lb. 12 oz.
At any rate, I'm so very glad to see Amelia is doing so well and that it looks like her plan to come home is starting to come together. Feel free to email me if you'd ever like to talk (stargazercmc@aol.com) - my husband and I completely understand what you're going through and I'm so glad to know of someone who is seeing the light at the end of the NICU tunnel.
If you're interested, we keep a blog for Colin as well. It's at www.caringbridge.org/visit/colinchandler. I also belong to a yahoo group that may interest you - it's PreemieBlogMoms (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PreemieBlogMoms), a group specifically for mothers of micro-preemies.
Anyway, congratulations on Amelia's amazing progress.
Cathy Chandler
Cathy: Jessica and I have been friends since we were 13. Thanks for your message. In the darkest days it is hard to imagine that things will get better. But they have gotten better and continue to do so. The blog is a good reminder of how far she has come. It has been a good way to express my feelings and keep my loved ones informed about our precious baby. If it has given any sort of hope and inspiration to others in similar circumstances, that is just icing on the cake. God bless your little one. I will pray for him. Christina
God Bless Colin, Cathy. How resilient and strong are these little kids? After reading your blog, it seems he's floating right along, taking the bad and beating it down with those tiny fists of his. Our nurses, too, say the fiestier the better. You and Dennis get that boy fat and healthy and home.
I keep up with a different yahoo group : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/preemie-list/
But I did just join the one you suggested... and though I'm not a mother, I can worry like one. All my best wishes, and feel free to email or call us if you need.
Todd
So great to hear from you both. I look forward to reading more about Amelia's progress. :)
Cathy
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