I'm so glad I blogged about how great a day she had yesterday....because today things have already changed.
They just got done with rounds for my baby Katea, rounds are held every morning and its where all the people who are taking care of her meet to talk about her....to discuss what changes have been made, and what changes are going to be made that day....and also to discuss her progress. They have these rounds every single morning, but this is the first time I was actually here for one because I normally don't make it to the hospital until after I pick Makai up from school in the afternoon, and then I stay until late night when I have to leave to give Ova the van to go to work. It was actually really neat to see a room full of people with all different medical titles, talking soley about my little girl and what they can do to help her progress. So extremely grateful for them! They are definitely miracle workers and I am forever endebted to them for what they're doing for my little girl!
Today when I walked in, her stats were back up again. Her heart rate was normal, in the 150's....but her Fi02 was back up to 45%. Annica is her nurse again today and she was telling me that baby has had several episodes, but only one that she needed help to resolve. That's horrible news to get, especially since she did so well yesterday. :( Before they did their rounds, I decided to pump by her bedside.....and just in that 20 minutes, she had 7 ABD episodes....she self-resolved all of them, which was good, but 7 in less than 20 minutes was just way too much!
Annica noticed that she was unusually calm today....even when she would get in to do her cares, she wouldn't get irritated like she usually does....it's almost like she's lathargic....definitely not acting like herself. That meant something was wrong! Here comes the trouble shooting again trying to figure out, out of the many things that could be, what was wrong with her. Annica said it could be that she's developing an infection...it could be that she was low on blood and needed another blood transfusion...it could be that they were still just giving her 37 breaths, and she needed more....it could be so many things.
At rounds they just went around the room. Each person gave their report. The RT's talked about her ventilation stats, the pharmacist talked about what medications she's on and how often she takes them, the NNP gave some suggestions on possible changes that could be made, and the neonatalagist gave her opinion and ok'd the NNP's suggestions as well as giving a few orders of her own. The changes they're going to make today is to turn her rate back up to 40 to see if that will help her bradicardiac episodes. They're going to draw a CBC to check her hematocrit level to see if she needs a blood transfusion, and also to check of any infections that might be developing. Those are just precautionary measures to be able rule out things that are not wrong with her.
After everyone had a turn to talk at the rounds, the neonatalogist talked to me for a minute. She explained that she ordered a couple tests to be done in the morning, one in particular was the echo cardiogram. The echo is a test of the heart. She just wanted to make sure that since she's a chronic baby, the problems with her lungs aren't putting unnecessary strain on her heart. She said in some chronic babies, that can happen and it can cause their hearts to swell or their walls to get thick. She just wanted to make sure that wasn't happening to Katea. Especially since her heart has been so perfect since she's been born!
They also talked about her feedings, the NNP wanted to up her feedings so she can start gaining weight. The Neonatalogist said we needed to limit the fluid for now, especially since her lungs held in a lot of the fluids which required her to need lasics.....they are concerned that if they give her more fluids, that same thing will happen again. They are also concerned though, that she's not gaining weight like they had hoped....so what they might do is fortify my breastmilk with even more human milk fortifier to make it be 27 calories instead of the 24 calories she's been getting. They didn't make any final decision on that though, they wanted to wait and see how much she weighs at tonight cares.
So I guess we wait until tomorrow to see the results of all the tests they're going to conduct. Hoping and praying that the results are good!
This most definitely is a rollercoaster of emotions....I just wish there were more good days than bad...but unfortunately, lately it hasn't been that way :( We're trying hard to remember that at least it's just her lungs and we really are grateful that that's her only main problem, because we know there are so many other complications that she could have had. We are blessed in that aspect, but it's still hard to see her have these bad days!
They just got done with rounds for my baby Katea, rounds are held every morning and its where all the people who are taking care of her meet to talk about her....to discuss what changes have been made, and what changes are going to be made that day....and also to discuss her progress. They have these rounds every single morning, but this is the first time I was actually here for one because I normally don't make it to the hospital until after I pick Makai up from school in the afternoon, and then I stay until late night when I have to leave to give Ova the van to go to work. It was actually really neat to see a room full of people with all different medical titles, talking soley about my little girl and what they can do to help her progress. So extremely grateful for them! They are definitely miracle workers and I am forever endebted to them for what they're doing for my little girl!
Today when I walked in, her stats were back up again. Her heart rate was normal, in the 150's....but her Fi02 was back up to 45%. Annica is her nurse again today and she was telling me that baby has had several episodes, but only one that she needed help to resolve. That's horrible news to get, especially since she did so well yesterday. :( Before they did their rounds, I decided to pump by her bedside.....and just in that 20 minutes, she had 7 ABD episodes....she self-resolved all of them, which was good, but 7 in less than 20 minutes was just way too much!
Annica noticed that she was unusually calm today....even when she would get in to do her cares, she wouldn't get irritated like she usually does....it's almost like she's lathargic....definitely not acting like herself. That meant something was wrong! Here comes the trouble shooting again trying to figure out, out of the many things that could be, what was wrong with her. Annica said it could be that she's developing an infection...it could be that she was low on blood and needed another blood transfusion...it could be that they were still just giving her 37 breaths, and she needed more....it could be so many things.
At rounds they just went around the room. Each person gave their report. The RT's talked about her ventilation stats, the pharmacist talked about what medications she's on and how often she takes them, the NNP gave some suggestions on possible changes that could be made, and the neonatalagist gave her opinion and ok'd the NNP's suggestions as well as giving a few orders of her own. The changes they're going to make today is to turn her rate back up to 40 to see if that will help her bradicardiac episodes. They're going to draw a CBC to check her hematocrit level to see if she needs a blood transfusion, and also to check of any infections that might be developing. Those are just precautionary measures to be able rule out things that are not wrong with her.
After everyone had a turn to talk at the rounds, the neonatalogist talked to me for a minute. She explained that she ordered a couple tests to be done in the morning, one in particular was the echo cardiogram. The echo is a test of the heart. She just wanted to make sure that since she's a chronic baby, the problems with her lungs aren't putting unnecessary strain on her heart. She said in some chronic babies, that can happen and it can cause their hearts to swell or their walls to get thick. She just wanted to make sure that wasn't happening to Katea. Especially since her heart has been so perfect since she's been born!
They also talked about her feedings, the NNP wanted to up her feedings so she can start gaining weight. The Neonatalogist said we needed to limit the fluid for now, especially since her lungs held in a lot of the fluids which required her to need lasics.....they are concerned that if they give her more fluids, that same thing will happen again. They are also concerned though, that she's not gaining weight like they had hoped....so what they might do is fortify my breastmilk with even more human milk fortifier to make it be 27 calories instead of the 24 calories she's been getting. They didn't make any final decision on that though, they wanted to wait and see how much she weighs at tonight cares.
So I guess we wait until tomorrow to see the results of all the tests they're going to conduct. Hoping and praying that the results are good!
This most definitely is a rollercoaster of emotions....I just wish there were more good days than bad...but unfortunately, lately it hasn't been that way :( We're trying hard to remember that at least it's just her lungs and we really are grateful that that's her only main problem, because we know there are so many other complications that she could have had. We are blessed in that aspect, but it's still hard to see her have these bad days!
1 comment:
You were right when you titled your post rollercoaster. I am so sorry to hear that she is still having bad days. But it is always one step up and two steps back kind of thing. The fact that she has survived being born so early is a miracle in itself. I am so thankful that she is still hanging in there. What a sweet little girl. I love her sweet little chubby cheeks. Better days are always ahead. Stay strong. You are in my prayers Monica! Love ya girl!
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