An Old Lady

My favorite Neonatologist is back on duty today. She explains things in a way I can easily understand, and uses the funniest phrases to describe the babies. Today, when discussing Elsie's Brady episodes she said "now Elsie is an old lady in here, she knows the rules. No misbehaving."

They put the sinus CPAP back on Elsie today. The nurse practitioner was quick to point out this is not a set back. Each Saturday they do blood work and a chest x-rays on the babies. Elsie's chest x-ray looks like the air sacs in her lungs are not opening. On the x-ray her lungs look white-ish, instead of black (air is black on an x-ray, did you know that?). So the CPAP will provide more pressure and keep her lungs inflated so she is able to grow and mature rather than use all of her energy breathing. The NP also said it is normal for babies to have a CPAP until 1200 or 1300 grams. Elsie is 1010.

She is digesting breastmilk with the added calories well, so they are going to continue to add them. She is up to 20 CCs of breast milk every three hours.

Her hematocrit was a little low today. Not low enough to do a transfusion, and they don't want to stop feeding her (they would have to stop feeding her to transfuse), so they are putting her on iron.

Hopefully the combination of the CPAP, the iron, and the caffine she was already on will help her breathe easier and keep her oxygenation saturation numbers up.

The doctor said the episodes could be a combination of reflux and the maturity of her brain. She says if we can get Elsie to grow, then she should grow out of both the reflux and the bradys. We shall see.

Love Y'all,
Ellen