Wednesday, January 2, 2008

you've got to take the ups with the downs . . .

People have repeatedly told us that the NICU is a roller coaster. True that.

On Monday, the nurse heard a large heart murmur on Owen - a sign of a PDA (patent ductus arteriosus), so they scheduled an echocardiogram to check his heart. (We had already gone through this with Eliot during her traumatic first week, and it was fixed easily with three doses of medicine.) Unfortunately, they found a large PDA on Owen which confused everyone. Owen has always looked so good (chubby, good color, good blood pressure, no respiratory problems). But, we knew that at some point, we would get some luke-warm news about Owen's health, and one of the million things that we have learned from this experience is to take everything in stride. There will be good days, and we should celebrate them. There will be bad days, and we should deal with them.

The worst part about this was Owen had to stop feeding and get an IV (I would have gladly stuck myself a hundred times to avoid his having to get up close and personal with another needle). He was on 4cc's when they stopped his feedings on Monday, and he received three doses of Indocin - Monday night, Tuesday morning, and Tuesday night. A follow-up echo was scheduled for Wednesday morning.

News came back today that the medicine helped the PDA (just like it had done for his little sister), and he needs no further treatment. Score for the big guy. Owen will be back on his feedings Wednesday night - 4cc's (a little less than one teaspoon).

Ellie is doing very well. They have moved her down on her c-pap, and the next step now is the nasal cannula. She has been feeding so well - up to 8cc's (1 1/2 teaspoons)! Way to go Ellie Mak - pack on those chub rolls!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

THank you for sharing the growth of these two wonderful, amazing children with us. They have two great parents, that is for sure.
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