NICU Down

Today started off on one of the famous NICU downs...

The nurse let us know as we walked in that Ella had another rough night. She had a number of desats during the night and had to be turned up on her O2. However, Ella had worked her way back down to room air by the time we arrived. Still, she seem lethargic and not herself. When we changed her diaper at the noon there was a small amount of what looked like blood in her stool... this freaked us out! Our nurse called the Neo and held her feeding. The Neo came and examined Ella. She didn't see anything physically, so she ordered some blood work done.

In the meantime, Jack's blood sugar was all over the place. Before a feeding, his blood sugar was really low and then once he ate, it was really high. She said it was like his pancreas had no idea what it was supposed to be doing. So Jack got a blood test too.

At this point we were terrified that Ella had an infection or even worse, NEC. (NEC is a really bad intestinal issue with preemies.) However, her blood work came back clear, so the Neo decided to go ahead and give her half a feeding at 3pm to see if she was digesting her food ok. Unlike the earlier part of the day, at this feeding she was more active and alert. Much to our surprise, she ended-up staying awake for the next 2 hours. David stood by Ella's Isolette and talked to her. He tried to lull her to sleep, but she was enjoying his touch too much. It was precious!

Jack's blood work also came back ok. His sugar level was great this time... something to watch for the future, but today he "fixed" whatever was happening. I held him for a little while, but trying to breath, eat, and be cute all at the same time can be a little overwhelming for him sometimes.

Something that we discovered today was that Ella is starting to change her sleeping pattern. She has begun staying up longer after certain feedings/changings while sleeping through others. The nurse said that she is too young to do this, but Ella is stubborn and likes to do things on her own schedule. I can't believe that this little baby that isn't even supposed to be born yet is already developing specific sleep and awake periods.

David and I stayed until after their next feeding (6pm) to make sure all was ok. I had to change Ella's diaper 3 times because just as I got a new one on, she filled a new one. Needless to say, her digestive system was working just fine. Not to be outdone by his sister, Jack's diaper needed changing twice.

After all the worry, we left the NICU on an up swing...