Day 12: A slight scare

Last night miss Emma gave us a bit of a scare. When her nurse went to check to see what was in her stomach before her 11pm feeding she found a brown substance which was most likely blood. She called Dr. S, the neonatologist that was on, and he immediately came to examine Emma. His initial impression was that the blood was caused by irritation from her feeding tube. He did not believe it was anything more serious because her belly was nice & soft, she was not requiring oxygen and she was not having an increase in her alarms. He decided to hold her feedings and continue to check to see what was in her stomach every 3 hours. Though the night she did not have anything, but this morning when her nurse checked at 8am she again had a brown aspirate. So Dr. B, her neonatologist, decided to order an x-ray. The x-ray just showed gas in her stomach, which is common with the CPAP. There was no signs of anything more serious, such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Dr. B said that his exam was consistent with this. She was not showing any signs of NEC or any other intestinal issues. He agreed with Dr. S that the blood was likely from her feeding tube. Her old tube was pulled and a new one was placed. Dr. B restarted Emma's feedings and thus far she has been tolerating them with no more blood. Praise God! Please pray that she continues to tolerate her feedings and does not have anymore blood. Please pray that God protect both girls from NEC.

NEC is an infection in the intestines that can result in portions of the intestines dying off. At times it can require surgery and can be quite severe. They cause of NEC is not known but studies have shown that feedings preemies breast milk lowers their risk for NEC, but it does not protect them from NEC. Both girls are getting breast milk exclusively. Dr. B said that the girls are at high risk for NEC until they are 30 weeks gestation, so for about 3 more weeks.

Today they went up on Adalyn's feedings from 2 ml every 3 hours to 4 ml ever 3 hours...big stuff. So far she has been tolerating it well. Pray that she continues to tolerate her feedings. Emma is due to go up on her feedings tomorrow if she does not have any more problems.

Both girls are still on CPAP, on room air. Both are still having some alarms, but less than they were having yesterday. Dr. B said he would like them to be "symptom free" before they come off CPAP again. For the most part for the twinners that means no more alarms. He said that at this point keeping them on CPAP as long as they are having alarms with protect their lungs in terms of future problems. He said they could likely breathe fine without it, but if they are having alarms it could result in some damage to their lungs. And it could result in them having to be on oxygen which at this age can cause damage to their eyes. So mommy & daddy are okay with this, whatever is best for them. We just think it looks so uncomfortable.

Adalyn has earned her sunglasses back again. Her bilirubin was slightly elevated so she is back under the phototherapy lights.

Sorry no weights to report yet for today. We will have those for you tomorrow :)

Please also be praying for Dave & I. We have both been feeling the stress of being back home, driving, being away from the girls. We both would love to be up there all day every day, but life will not allow that. Please ask that God help us find balance and that he help us cope with not being able to be with the girls as often as we would like. Also, we are rather germ shy these days so if you are sick in any way we will be keeping our distance. If we contract anything it means that we could accidentally give it to our girls which would be devastating and if we get sick we can not go see the twinners. Please pray that God keep Dave, Adalyn, Emma and myself healthy. Thank you all so much for your prayers.