March 18, 2008

We are back in Comanche. It is still tough to leave the little ones, but we know that they are receiving good care in our absence.

Rylie continues to do well. Yesterday morning and this morning he took a bottle feeding and took the entire amount (30 ml which is approximately one fluid ounce). He is gaining weight, and is now weighing more than he did at birth. He continues to do well breathing room air.

Ryan is doing well breathing room air, but continues to have drops in his oxygen saturation when he is being fed. He is getting 33 ml per feeding, and this morning, he took 20 ml of it from a bottle feeding. He has surpassed his birth weight.

Reese continues to have a PDA. Although it is smaller, it is still fairly large. The doctor says that a PDA that measures 2.o mm is considered to be large, but Reese's measures 2.5 mm (for comparison, 5 mm is about the size of a pencil eraser). The doctor wants to talk to the Cardiologist that read the echocardiogram, in order to get more information. The current plan is to wait and see if it will close on its own. However, if the Cardiologist indicates that the PDA is starting to cause heart problems (especially if it is starting to cause heart failure), then it may be necessary for Reese to have surgery in order to close the PDA. She continues to do well with her CPAP, and maintains oxygen saturation of greater than 95% all the time. Her chest x-ray, done today, indicated that her PICC line may have not been in exactly the right place; it appeared to have been in the Azygous Vein. The doctor withdrew the catheter one cm, and a repeat chest x-ray showed the catheter tip to be in good position. She is getting feedings again; that, along with the IV nutrition has allowed her to gain some weight; she now weighs more than she did at birth.

We got home a little later than we had hoped, and we felt that we needed to rest first; so, we did not work on getting pictures uploaded tonight. We hope to find time to do that tomorrow.