Its been an eventful day, not all of it that good.
We started this morning at 7am with a visit to NICU to get the morning update on the girls. Unexpectedly, Hanna, our big girl, had a rough night as her bloop pressure dropped and they needed to give her some meds for it. The NICU staff didn't seem overly concerned, but still, you don't necessarily want to hear regression stories. Unfortunately, there was more to come.
After visits by my parents and Sara's around mid day, and some baby viewing in the NICU, I went home with Rylan and took a nap on the couch. It felt good to leave the hospital, as the surreal haze of the last 36 hours started to fade.
I came back this evening to around 7:30, and Sara and I went into the NICU for the evening update. It wasn't that great.
Ashlyn: Ashlyn has regressed, and they had to increase her oxygen flow. More interesting and scary is that she is having some serious lung problems. The NICU Doc explained her issues as complex; she has the fluid issue around the lungs that they have drained several times, that has seemed to stabilize. Her O2 pressure is low, as her lungs are not opened all the way. The surfactant has helped, but her right lung is not really open. And now the kicker. She has a confirmed PDA.
PDA is Patent Ductus Arterious. Before birth, babies are not breathing on their own and are being given oxygen through the placenta. The Ductus Arteriosis is a tiny valve that allows the lungs to start handling oxygen (by breathing) as soon as the baby is born. In a "normal" baby this valve auto-closes within a period of hours after birth. In preemies, it doesn't close and oxygen rich blood is diverted to the lungs rather than the body. Result? Blood pressure problems, breathing problems, heart problems......oh boy.
Is this rare? Not necessarily.....50% of pre-term babies under 4lbs have it.
Treatment is either medication or surgery. We started the with medication tonight. They are giving her a med called indomethacin, which is designed to close the valve. It is given in 3 doses over about 48-72 hours. They like to see results within about 24-48 hours after the meds have been taken, so it wont be till Sunday or Monday when we will know if it worked. Plan B is surgery to close it, and we really don't want to go there, do we?!
The other frightening reality which is slowly becoming clear is that, we are not really moving forward here. We are still in stabilization mode. The first 2-5 days (or more) the girls are not being fed, only fluids. They are simply trying to get their breathing stable to get off the ventilators.
Hanna: Despite the bad night last night, Hanna is in a better spot than Ashlyn. No surprise. However, more scary news. They hear a "murmer" on Hanna, which is a likely indication that she has PDA as well. The good news is that the potential PDA is not causing any deterioration in her breathing or oxygen levels. The bad news...The girls are identical twins. Its quite likely she has it too.
We had a sobering talk with the doctor in there tonight for sure. He seems very concerned, especially about Ashlyn.
So, the girls we born last night and I felt a sense of relief. I got off the rollercoaster....only for a few hours.
Now, we have re-boarded the coaster and away we go. Feels like we are "2 steps back, no steps forward right now"......This shouldn't be all that unexpected and maybe too much information is dangerous. We are where we are, and we'll take it one day at a time....
Here is a picture of Hanna at birth last night.....
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