Thursday, August 25, 2005

Day 19 summary

Emma's blood pressure remained distressingly low until mid-day, but eventually came back to normal limits after she was given several medications. There was some concern about her renal/kidney functioning for a while too, although that seems to be resolved now. The results of the echocardiogram were also normal, indicating good flow through her heart valves/vessels/chambers.

Overall, todays post-surgical developments were not unexpected in a preemie of Emma's size although they mean that she will likely be staying at the Children's hospital for a while longer until she is more stable (before going back to the NICU at the General).

Prior to surgery, the alarms from the machines monitoring Emma's breathing and oxygen saturation rate were going off very often, indicating she was having frequent apnea spells (in which she stopped breathing on her own). As I mentioned last night, they hadn't been ringing since she returned from her operation. While I had taken this to be a positive sign, her nurse conceded that they simply had not reattached the same leads to the monitors. I was disappointed upon hearing this, but Emma's nurse reassured me that she is breathing much easier now and they will likely be reducing her ventilation requirements over the next few days.

On another positive note, Emma has gained a fair bit of weight... She's up from 1 pound 8 ounces at birth to 1 pound 13.5 ounces today. Yay!

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Go Emma Go.
By the time of this report, do your Parents ever sleep?
We are here every step of the way for All of you.
Lots of Love coming your way.
Oma & Opa

04:55  
Blogger Silver Creek Mom said...

I'm so glad to hear about the weight gain. Like Lisa said take care of yourselves...we keep praying fo you all.

Super BIG hugs
Sharon

08:20  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Get lots of rest Eric and Laurie. You need to stay well and not get run down....Lots of hugs,kisses and love......

Oma and Opa

08:50  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The weight gain is tremendous news! Emma is such a little trooper, fighting her way thru all of these challenges, as are you all as a family. Stay strong for one another, it will really help. Every time I check the update, I always find myself saying "Way to go Emma! Go Emma go!" and then we always say a special prayer for her. xoxo

10:40  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The weight gain is certainly a positive sign, keep hanging in there Emma, with love Thelma

12:14  

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