Roller Coasters

I used to like roller coasters - the thrill of the ride, the unexpected plummets, sharp turns that draw out a scream of delight. Now the merry-go-round is looking much more appealing, even with the silly disney music they play. This season of life's roller coaster is more thrill and fear than I'll need for a life time. Today started out with an unexpected fear-inducing down turn.

Mommy soothing his little toesies

After yesterdays improvements I was shocked to get a call from the hospital early this morning that Jimmy needed a blood transfusion right away. He's anemic with plummeting hematocrit and hemoglobin levels. His stats were some-what ok, but he would quickly deteriorate if not given blood immediately. My poor little guy, getting another owie IV prick and more trauma.

By 9 am he was being given 15 ml of blood through an IV in his hand over a three hour period. A second IV in his foot gave him fluids. It's so hard to see his teeny body all hooked up to pumps and machines again. He was very lethargic and pale, not caring that the nurses were causing him pain - so unlike my feisty little "helper". All during that time he was having significantly more brady's, to the point that his oxygen saturation was dropping and he needed to be stimulated with a gentle back rub to get his heart beating and him breathing again.
It's after 4:00 now, and he'll finally get to eat after not eating for nearly 11 hours. The nurse said he should be crying with hunger, but he's still quite lethargic and sleepy. Otherwise his body is responding well to the blood transfusion- having fewer bradys and better oxygen sats. The doctor wouldn't be surprised if he needed another transfusion tomorrow, or in a week or two. Apparently its expected that nearly every preemie will need blood at some point, so a match to his blood type is ready to go immediately after he's born.

Back asleep after all the days excitment

Please join us in praying that his body continues to respond well to the transfusion. That his heart rate picks up and stays up. He will have another draw tomorrow morning to see how his blood counts are. Praying they are way up and steady from here on out.