Rough Day

Okay....here's what's going on: Preston is doing great now! They took his feeding tube out today and put him on full feedings. We're very proud of him. He's already weighing 4.13!!

Mollie had a "brady" yesterday and it prompted the nurse to document it. Also, some of the nurses have been hearing a heart murmur with Mollie, but it goes in and out. The doctor ordered an echocardiogram today and it seems like she may have a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO). This is when the valve between the 2 upper (aterial) chambers of the heart does not close. About 20% adults have this. We have a meeting with the pediatric cardiologist to discuss Mollie's and Elise's condition. The orders for Mollie's discharge has moved from this weekend to Monday. She may have to come home on an apnea monitor. That's fine with me. In fact, it serves as security. Other than that, Mollie has been doing very well on her feedings and she is gaining weight. She is now 5 pounds!

Now...onto my delicate Elise. She lost another 8 grams last night. She is anemic and in spite of being given iron, she does not appear to be gaining strength. She does not suck well and burns a lot of calories trying to nurse. She had a pretty dramatic Brady today while I was nursing her. Her heartrate dropped to 71 (normal is around 145) and her oxygen level in her blood went to about 60%. Her lips had started turning blue when she suddenly started her heart rate back up without CPR. When the doctor made his rounds today he addressed the anemia problem. He said that just before birth, my blood treated Elise's blood as foreign and my antibodies attacked. It is fairly common but because Elise is so tiny and premature, it caused her to be more anemic than the others. One option they are looking at is a blood transfusion. That would take care of the anemia problem and should "kick start" her instead of wearing her down trying to build her blood up from where it is now.

All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. There's a reason for the small setback. I may not know what it is, but He does and I trust in Him.