Another Busy Day
Emma had a great Monday (as was noted in an earlier blog), and a great Monday night. So, Tuesday became a very busy day. First off, Emma had another big weight gain (she is now ~ 1325 grams... closing in on the three pound mark, and over double her birth weight).
At rounds, the doctors decided to take a proactive approach since Emma was doing so well. Emma was taken off the high frequency ventilator and put back on the original ventilator. Her settings were up a bit from Saturday morning (rate of 40 instead of 35; pressure of 22/6 instead of 20/6). However, by Wednesday morning Emma was back to 35 and 20/6. Great job Emma!
In addition, Emma's blood cultures came back negative for infection, so her antibiotics were stopped and her IV was removed. The doctors also conducted two more tests to determine if Emma had any other infections: a unrine analysis and a spinal tap. For those of you who are not not neonatologists (or parents of premies), a premie spinal tap is very different from a spinal tap on a child or adult. For a premie, the spine has not extended as far down the body, so the sensation that Emma had during the spinal tap was (supposedly) no different from that of receiving an IV. The procedure is pretty common place, no pain meds are given aside from sugar water to make the babies happy. We were informed Emma barely noticed that the procedure occurred.
However, Emma did have some fun with the nurses and doctors. For both the spinal tap and urine collection Emma was placed on a sterile surface for the procedure. Both times (before the procedure started) Emma decided that the sterile surface was a perfect place to relieve herself. Liz and I say that it was her form of protest over having procedures done :)
After the urine and spinal fluid were analyzed, preliminary results show that there is no infection, fungus, or signs that Emma has or had meningitis. So, at this point, the doctors' diagnosis is that Emma's lungs are simply sick and need time to heal. We've been told that Emma's current condition is present in the majority of micro-premies. While that doesn't exactly make us feel better, it is good to know that Emma isn't any worse off than the average micro-premie.
Emma continues to grow and do well. Her feedings have been increased to 16 ml every two hours, and that rate is likely to continue to increase. Other than that, we just continue to watch her and hope she can get better... oh, and we're going to give her a bath tonight (hopefully she cooperates!).
This may not look comfortable to you, but it works just fine for me!
A bear on my back is a perfect substitute for mom or dad's hand!
Emma and her bunny...
Emma appears to be a big college basketball fan... She's cheering for the Badgers to have a good showing tonight against Purdue.
Next we have Emma with Piglet, part II. After checking these out click here to see Emma's previous pictures w/ Piglet.
At rounds, the doctors decided to take a proactive approach since Emma was doing so well. Emma was taken off the high frequency ventilator and put back on the original ventilator. Her settings were up a bit from Saturday morning (rate of 40 instead of 35; pressure of 22/6 instead of 20/6). However, by Wednesday morning Emma was back to 35 and 20/6. Great job Emma!
In addition, Emma's blood cultures came back negative for infection, so her antibiotics were stopped and her IV was removed. The doctors also conducted two more tests to determine if Emma had any other infections: a unrine analysis and a spinal tap. For those of you who are not not neonatologists (or parents of premies), a premie spinal tap is very different from a spinal tap on a child or adult. For a premie, the spine has not extended as far down the body, so the sensation that Emma had during the spinal tap was (supposedly) no different from that of receiving an IV. The procedure is pretty common place, no pain meds are given aside from sugar water to make the babies happy. We were informed Emma barely noticed that the procedure occurred.
However, Emma did have some fun with the nurses and doctors. For both the spinal tap and urine collection Emma was placed on a sterile surface for the procedure. Both times (before the procedure started) Emma decided that the sterile surface was a perfect place to relieve herself. Liz and I say that it was her form of protest over having procedures done :)
After the urine and spinal fluid were analyzed, preliminary results show that there is no infection, fungus, or signs that Emma has or had meningitis. So, at this point, the doctors' diagnosis is that Emma's lungs are simply sick and need time to heal. We've been told that Emma's current condition is present in the majority of micro-premies. While that doesn't exactly make us feel better, it is good to know that Emma isn't any worse off than the average micro-premie.
Emma continues to grow and do well. Her feedings have been increased to 16 ml every two hours, and that rate is likely to continue to increase. Other than that, we just continue to watch her and hope she can get better... oh, and we're going to give her a bath tonight (hopefully she cooperates!).
This may not look comfortable to you, but it works just fine for me!
A bear on my back is a perfect substitute for mom or dad's hand!
Emma and her bunny...
Emma appears to be a big college basketball fan... She's cheering for the Badgers to have a good showing tonight against Purdue.
Next we have Emma with Piglet, part II. After checking these out click here to see Emma's previous pictures w/ Piglet.
posted by Chadwick at 2:36 PM
1 Comments:
Wow, what happened to Piglet? He appears to have shrunk significantly! Weird! That's great to hear all of the good news about Emma, and her growth has also got to be putting a smile on everyone's faces! All the best from Hamburg!
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