Friday mid afternoon update

I believe Kim mentioned in last nights post that they are trying to get Jenna stable on CPAP today. If she doesn't handle CPAP too well, then they will have to put her back on the ventilator. While this isn't too too surprising in micro preemies, it's still a bit of a step backwards. During this whole process, the Dr.'s expect them to be on and off the vent at various times. But... the more time they are on the vent, the more potential for lung damage. Last night, they put her on a different CPAP machine to see if she would take to that one a little better. The machines are similar, but slightly different and sometimes a baby does better on one vs. the other.
Soooo, she's doing ok on the vent today, but not really the progress we would like to see. Her O2 is at 47% right now, and we'd really like to see it in the 30's.
Her feeding is going great though. She's at 8cc every 3hrs right now and they are about to bump her up to 9cc. Dr. Su said that if she continues to do good on her feedings, then in about 4 or 5 days she should be sustaining herself entirely on milk and no longer need any IV fluids. That will be a great milestone indeed. Cmon Jenna!

They did another head ultrasound on Jenna to get an update on her IVH (IntraVentricular Hemorrhage = head bleed). The results haven't come back yet, but the Dr. should call me as soon as he gets the results. I will in turn update the blog so everyone can track her progress. The last two sonograms showed that the hemorrhaging had stoped, so there is the expectation that this one will show similar results. We don't expect to see a reduction of blood in the ventricle for another couple weeks, as these things take time for the body to absorb the blood. There is the possibility that there could be a blood clot that will block the natural circulation of spinal fluid, in which case we will have to consider some kind of medical intervention. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it won't come to that.

Blake is doing great. His CPAP settings are looking really good. He's on 21-28% O2 (21% is room air). His feeding continues to go well. Every now and again he has some residual food left over, but not enough to slow his progress. He's a few days behind Jenna on his feeding as he had to stop due to his lung problem & his PDA surgery. But he seems to be making up for lost time and really pushing forward.

All in all they are doing pretty darn good and continue to make progress. Way to go Kiddo's!!! Keep up the good work.