Day 8: February 22 … 2lbs 13.7oz
One week ago, this little guy was born! How time has flown by! He already is starting to change in how he looks, filling out a bit more, and seems so much more at ease. Another pretty calm night. He’s once again off the bili lights. They’ll check levels tomorrow to see if he is good to stay off of it or not. They did a head ultrasound this morning, and will do an echo this afternoon to determine if the hole in his heart has healed and if he can be weaned off the nitric oxide. If all looks good with his heart, they’ll pull his pic line and we’ll get to hold our baby boy for the first time! They’ve upped his breast milk intake, and they will pull blood gas levels again this evening. If all looks good, they’ll drop his ventilator settings even more. At the rate he’s going, the docs are optimistic that he could be off the ventilator all together in the next few days. I had run into one of his doctors down the hall earlier this morning. He said he was really impressed with his progress, that Ryker has been hitting milestones at a faster rate than he thought would happen! We knew ahead of time that it would be a long stay in the NICU, but it’s so exciting to see and hear about his progress. Such a rockstar.
I’ll update later about his results on the heart echo and head ultrasound 🙂
**UPDATE on Ultrasound & Echo **
One of his doctors stopped by to inform me of the results on Ryker’s head ultrasound & heart echo. It appeared his heart echo showed signs of improvement, and they were planning on taking out his arterior line this evening, so we’ll get a chance to hold our little guy tomorrow!
His head ultrasound shows that he has suffered a grade 3 intraventricular hemorrhage (brain bleed).. Grading is 1-4, one being the least severe, 4 being the most severe. It shows that he has blood putting pressure on brain tissue. He is in somewhat of a gray area as to what the effects will be on his brain development, ranging from physical and emotional developmental issues and an increased risk of cerebral palsy. They will be monitoring him closely with hopes that the hemorrhage will clear up on its own. It is somewhat of a case by case scenario. The doc has mentioned she’s seen kids who appeared they were going to have severe disabilities due to the severity of their brain bleed, yet have grown up to be perfectly normal children, as well as vice versa. I’ve also read quite a few stories of families who have experienced something similar, and things cleared up by the time their baby left the NICU.. We’re praying hard that things start to clear up for our little guy. They’ll do another ultrasound in a week to check for changes. He’s come along so far and done so well on the respiratory end, I’d say he’s pretty good at beating the odds. Please keep him in your thoughts. <3