Reminders

I was reminded today that we are not out of the woods yet.  You get blind to the fact that our babies are still fighting for their lives because they have been having such good days.

Rebecca had a rough night last night.  Her O2 sats dropped on four occasions and because increasing her O2 was not bringing her levels back up, they were required to "bag" her.  This means they remove the vent connection to the oxygen and manually force air in her airway with a bag they squeeze.  Right before I got there this afternoon she had an episode where her O2 sat dropped into the 40's (they want her between 75-85) and her heartrate dropped into the 70's (normal range for her is between 130 - 160).  Again they were not able to get her back to her normal ranges by increasing the oxygen so they had to "bag" her.  Then while I was there her O2 again dropped into the 40's and had to be "bagged" again. 
After her bad night an xray was done.  It was found that the vent was not located where it needed to be so they moved it down further.  They also said that the xray showed there was a lobe that was deflated so they increased her pressure into her lungs to inflate it.  When they repeated the xray again this evening, it showed that the tube was infact in the right location.

Joanna had a head ultrasound done yesterday as a follow up scan for her bleeds that were discovered a few weeks back.  After the ultrasound was read it looked like the bleeds are still grade II bleeds but there was also a bright spot on the ultrasound that the physician wanted to have scanned again with another ultrasound next Friday.  This bright spot may be nothing but they did mention one thing they look for in preemies is what is called PVL or periventricular leukomalacia.  PVL is the most common brain injury in premature babies.  It is cysts that occur in the white matter of the brain.  Some complications to PVL is mild disabilities such as learning disabilities to severe disabilities which include cerebral palsy.

Please pray for Rebecca to overcome her respiratory set backs and begin to grow so she can have the cardiac cath procedure done.  Once she has this procedure they can begin taking steps to get her off the vent.  Please pray that Joanna's bleeds and the spot they saw today will not be there next Friday.  God CAN do these things!!  Please pray for Brandon and I as we continue down this roller coster of emotions.  Pray that we will continue to lean on God and each other.  Thanks.