You might recall the other day I posted about Emma's CPAP. It was great for providing support to her little lungs, but was also pushing air into her stomach, making it difficult for her to be regular. Well, another such situation reared its ugly head this morning. They have to test Emma's blood daily to make sure everything is looking good and make adjustments in her IV fluids when things get a little off. All of these blood tests are great at letting the doctors know what adjustments need to be made, but they also deplete her blood supply. Our red blood cells are made in the bone marrow. When we lose some blood, the bone marrow simply makes more to replenish our supply. In a preemie this is just another example of something that is immature. The bone marrow hasn't fully matured to the point of being able to create enough red blood cells to make up for the amount they withdraw every day, so she will need a little boost to help her with this. And this morning, Emma received a blood transfusion.
The doctors briefly talked to me about this yesterday, but did not indicate that anything was this imminent. So when Britne received a phone call this morning asking for her consent to give Emma this transfusion, we were a little shocked and scared. But due to the big bad book on preemies they gave us yesterday, and a good friend who has gone through this exact same thing with his oldest child being born premature, our fears were quickly resolved. Thanks J! It's very common for preemies to have to get blood transfusions due to the fact that they have immature bone marrow, as I mentioned above. There is a medicine they can give instead, but transfusions are faster acting. They solve the problem pretty much immediately. The red blood cells are responsible for delivering oxygen to the body, so this should also help reduce the amount of apnea spells she has. There was apparently an increase in those episodes over the 24 hours leading up to her transfusion, so that coupled with the low count they received when they tested her blood led to the decision to go ahead and go forward with the procedure.
This is just another example of things that we had no idea we were getting into. Each day is more and more of a learning experience and we hear more stuff from the doctors and nurses every day. We know they've been through this a million times and for them to sit down and tell us everything to expect would not only take too long, but it would scare us even more because some of the things they've seen with other kids will not happen to Emma. All kids are different and move along at their own pace. We wish there was a cheat sheet, but unfortunately there isn't. We just have to keep learning on the fly with the understanding that the doctors and nurses are NOT learning as they go. They have seen it before, they know how to handle it, and they have everything under control. It's a difficult thing for a parent to do to place your child's life in someone else's hands. But in this situation, we simply have no other choice.
Emma was in great spirits when we got there early this evening, though. The nurse told us that since the transfusion she had zero apnea and bradycardia episodes, so it seems that the transfusion did indeed help with that as they indicated it should. Both Britne and I got to hold her tonight, which was downright awesome. Britne held her for about an hour and a half and then I held her for about an hour. She was getting a little uncomfortable near the end of that, as I'm pretty sure that's the longest she's ever been out of her isolette. But it was great that they let both of us hold her. And as soon as they put her back in her isolette she calmed right back down and was doing great.
Both Britne and I looked at her today and agreed that she seems to really be starting to fill out some. She gained another 20 grams this evening, so maybe there is something to our perception. They upped her feeds again this morning to 4.5ml each feeding and then at the 8pm feeding tonight they increased it again to 5ml. This gradual increase will continue every day for quite a while as long as Emma tolerates it and continues digesting her milk well.
So a day that got off to a rocky start quickly calmed down and turned out to be another good day. Brit and I both thought that she looked better today than she did yesterday. Her eyes were open very wide, the widest I've ever seen them open. Even though we were a bit concerned when they mentioned a blood transfusion, it seems to really have perked her up. She reacted well to it and had a great day afterwards! Hopefully she'll enjoy seeing her big sister again tomorrow. I know Eden will be excited to see her. Thanks for the concern and the continued prayers! We all appreciate it, especially little Emma. Goodnight everyone!
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