Improvement!

If there's one thing I've learned as a NICU Mom, preemies (and their Mommies and Daddies) are constantly experiencing ups and downs ... when things are going well, there's no guarantee they will continue to go well. When things are going badly, they can turn around in a matter of hours... We have noticed a lot of improvements in the past week, and while we want to stay positive, we remain a little bit guarded because we know things can turn anytime.

On that note (sort of), I came across this letter written from a NICU nurse to NICU moms... and it really hits the nail on the head with describing what having a child (or children) in the NICU is like. I almost teared up a little when reading it, since we have experienced a lot of these things first hand.

 From a NICU Nurse to a NICU Mom

Last week Monday, the day we found out Sophie had another infection, was a pretty horrible day for us. By the next day, after being on antibiotics, Sophie was acting healthier than she had in a month! She was alert, crying when she was hungry, interested in drinking her bottles, and generally more awake than she had been since her first infection. Since then, she has continued to improve and is now back to acting how we think a normal, healthy infant should act. In fact, Sophie has drank all of her bottles for almost 48 hours now! Her feeding tube is out and she is doing a great job! Such a relief for us! Sophie also hit the big 5 lb. mark yesterday...such a big girl!

We believe we have figured out where Sophie got both of her infections from. My breast milk from the day I had mastitis and the two days prior was cultured and it was found to have group B strep, the same exact bacteria that infected Sophie's blood. Sophie most likely got some of this milk a few weeks ago and probably got some more again last week. This is really interesting, because when women have mastitis, they are always told to continue breast feeding and not to discard their milk. I guess, once again, Sophie broke the mold, huh? The infectious disease specialist said she has never seen a case like this before, but was able to do some research and find some rare cases in which this has happened. Crazy! So... because I never, ever, ever, ever, EVER want this to happen again, Nate and I had the pleasure of throwing out ten whole days worth of potentially infected milk tonight. Yikes!

Because the doctor believes Sophie was re-infected with the bacteria by drinking the infected milk twice (as opposed to having a recurrence of the same infection that we thought was cleared), she is only recommending 10 days of antibiotics. Today, Sophie was on day 6 or 7, I can't remember.

Besides dealing with the infection, Sophie also had an echocardiogram last week. This was news to us, but apparently the nurses have been documenting off and on that Sophie has a heart murmur. The echocardiogram showed that Sophie has a large PDA (patent ductus arteriosus)... this is a blood vessel that is open while babies are in the womb, but is supposed to close soon after birth. Hers is/was still open. Eventually, this can cause problems for babies by putting strain on the heart and causing breathing issues, among other things. So far, Sophie isn't showing any complications, but it still needs to be fixed eventually. There are three ways to fix it: It can close on its own (it's common for it to stay open longer in preemies than in term kids), it can be fixed by open heart surgery, or it can be fixed by a much less invasive procedure in the cath lab. Unfortunately, the doctor hadn't given us the vibe that he was confident it would close on its own, and babies need to be bigger than Sophie is to have the less invasive procedure to fix it. Imagine how disappointed we were when we found this out, and it sounded like the only option to fix it was going to be open heart surgery...

Until today! When we arrived to the hospital, not only did Sophie not have a feeding tube in, but the nurse also told us that she didn't hear a murmur this morning, and neither did the doctor!! The best news I've heard in a long time. This certainly doesn't prove that the PDA has closed, but we think it's a good sign. At some point, they are going to recheck another echocardiogram to see how the PDA looks. When she's ready to go home, if it hasn't closed, we will just have to follow up regularly with a cardiologist until it can be fixed... hopefully, we will have enough time for her to get big enough to have the less invasive procedure. If it has closed, then she's all set! We are told that stressors such as infection can make the PDA open, so we are praying that it was just associated with the infection and that it has now closed since the infection is clearing.

Evie is still doing great at home! As of two days ago at the pediatrician, she weighed 5 lbs. 14 oz.

Thank you for praying for our little munchkins! We are so thankful they are both doing so well at the moment. We are praying that we will be snuggling them both at home sooner rather than later. :)

Love,
The VPs