Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Daddy's Girls

Just a quick update today:
Sofia: Continues to do well. She gained a little weight today (we're talking tenths of ounces here) and she's still off c-pap. She's been off for 24 hours. She's had a few apnea / bradycardia episodes but she usually brings herself back up. She had 2 where they had to stimulate her by rubbing her feet or her back. She's tolerating her feedings well.

Olivia: Had her second echocardiogram this morning to check the status of her heart murmur. The echo showed improvement - the PDA went from large to moderate. Definitely a step in the right direction. It's still a little larger than Sofia's (If you'll remember from a previous blog, her PDA is considered small - so small they just watch it and don't treat it). They were never able to give her the 3rd dose of indomethicin. One of the side effects from the drug is shutting down the kidneys and she wasn't having enough urine output. They don't plan on giving her the last dose. The plan now is to watch it and hope that it closes on its own. The doctor said the chance of it closing is 50/50 so there is still the potential for surgery in the future, but they won't decide on that for several weeks as long as she doesn't show signs of having issues. Her urine output increased over last night so that's a good thing. They've taken her off the c-pap. She's had several apnea / bradycardia episodes as she gets used to being off the c-pap and they said they won't hesitate to put her back on if she shows she needs it. She lost a little weight today (again, talking tenths of an ounce) but she continues to tolerate her feedings.

The girls are having the scans of their heads tomorrow to make sure there aren't any bleeds so we're hoping all goes well with that. The doctor also told us that, until the end of the third week of life, the largest potential risk is infection in their digestive systems -- that would be bad news. He said we're doing all we can do - both girls are getting milk from me which is the best for them - and now we just have to cross our fingers and say a prayer that they continue to tolerate their feedings. Not tolerating feedings isn't always a sign of an infection, but it could be.
That's about all for now. We hope everyone is doing well. Here are a few pictures of Daddy holding his girls - still the white hat for Sofia and the pink hat for Olivia.






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