Today was a pretty stable day for Noelle, and we are so thankful for
that after the last few days of dipping up and down on the
roller coaster. They did an echocardiogram today to check on her PDA and
hopefully will have the results of that tomorrow. They also did
another cranial ultrasound to make sure that the blood clot in her brain
is diminishing and resolving itself, so hopefully we will have those
results tomorrow as well. They took her off the jet ventilator today
and then put her back onto it again as they are trying to figure out the
best settings to help drain the fluid in her lungs that has collected
because of the PDA. It has its pros and cons both medically and
comfortably for her as she does not like the jet ventilator as well and
often tries to breathe over it (which they do not want her to do when
she is on it....it defeats its purpose). She also gets extremely
agitated on it so they finally gave her a fentanyl drip to help her calm
down, and she seems to be doing much better. She was alert for quite a
bit tonight, and it is fun to talk to her and watch her eyes follow our
voices as we speak and read to her. She definitely seems to recognize
our voices--so we try to speak to her when things are calm and not when
people are poking her--we don't want her associating us with pain and
prodding!! She also reached 510 grams today, praise the Lord!! She is
even physically starting to look a little bigger, and it's exciting to
see the small amounts of growth in her. We are so thankful for these
past 3 weeks and thank God for each and every day that He gives us with
her. She has blessed our lives so much already, and we are ever
grateful to Him for how He is using her to mold and change us and draw
us closer to Him. Thank you for being a part of that process with us!!
Showing posts with label Fentanyl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fentanyl. Show all posts
Monday, February 6, 2012
NICU Day 5 (December 12th)
***Written by Chris McDowell, Jill's Mother***
The roller coaster ride continues. Noelle was stable today, but the Dr.'s are carefully monitoring a couple of things. One is her glucose levels. She will have a couple of normal range levels and then it will drop. Right now they are attributing it to her size, but if it continues they will have to consider and endocrine problem. Also, today her tiny abdomen was a bit distended. An x-ray was ordered and revealed she had gas in her intestines. They stopped the feeding tube and ordered another x-ray for this evening to see if the gas is moving thru her intestines. The gas had moved tonight and they will check again in the morning. There is a serious concern for NEC--Necrotizing Enterocolitis. This is a disease to which especially preterm infants are susceptible. NEC involves inflammation and infection that destroys the bowel. It usually occurs after milk feedings begin because the infant's intestinal tract is so immature. If an infant gets this it requires emergency surgery to save them, but at this point surviving the surgery is questionable.
They were happy with the x-ray results this evening and we are praying that the x-ray in the morning will show continued movement in the intestines.
Another battle is how fragile Noelle is. Her skin is so thin and not fully developed. She bruises easily and is so very fragile.
On a good note she is responding to light and opens her eyes. It has been noted that she really responds to Jill and Tom talking to her. They continue to use a very low dose of Fentanyl to calm her just enough so she does not fight the ventilator.
Jill is home now and beginning a daily schedule of going to the hospital early in the mornings for grand rounds then going home for a while to rest in the afternoon and then she and Tom will go up in the evenings after he gets home from work. My sister is there this week helping and their church family is also helping tremendously.
Pray as they wade through all the paperwork that has to be done for such a birth and hospital care.
God Bless All Our Family and Friends
The roller coaster ride continues. Noelle was stable today, but the Dr.'s are carefully monitoring a couple of things. One is her glucose levels. She will have a couple of normal range levels and then it will drop. Right now they are attributing it to her size, but if it continues they will have to consider and endocrine problem. Also, today her tiny abdomen was a bit distended. An x-ray was ordered and revealed she had gas in her intestines. They stopped the feeding tube and ordered another x-ray for this evening to see if the gas is moving thru her intestines. The gas had moved tonight and they will check again in the morning. There is a serious concern for NEC--Necrotizing Enterocolitis. This is a disease to which especially preterm infants are susceptible. NEC involves inflammation and infection that destroys the bowel. It usually occurs after milk feedings begin because the infant's intestinal tract is so immature. If an infant gets this it requires emergency surgery to save them, but at this point surviving the surgery is questionable.
They were happy with the x-ray results this evening and we are praying that the x-ray in the morning will show continued movement in the intestines.
Another battle is how fragile Noelle is. Her skin is so thin and not fully developed. She bruises easily and is so very fragile.
On a good note she is responding to light and opens her eyes. It has been noted that she really responds to Jill and Tom talking to her. They continue to use a very low dose of Fentanyl to calm her just enough so she does not fight the ventilator.
Jill is home now and beginning a daily schedule of going to the hospital early in the mornings for grand rounds then going home for a while to rest in the afternoon and then she and Tom will go up in the evenings after he gets home from work. My sister is there this week helping and their church family is also helping tremendously.
Pray as they wade through all the paperwork that has to be done for such a birth and hospital care.
God Bless All Our Family and Friends
NICU Day 4 (December 11th)
***Written by Chris McDowell, Jill's Mother***
Noelle has had another "good" day. Her oxygen levels were stable. Her blood sugar has fluctuated quite a bit today. She also needed another transfusion of blood this morning. They had to give her fentanyl to sedate her a bit because she is fighting against the ventilator, trying to breath on her own and she is definitely not ready. They were able to start feeding her through a tube in her mouth. They are feeding her colostrum on a slow drip. She has tolerated it well so far. Jill was discharged today, but they had them stay in the hospital one more night. Tomorrow they will start working on their daily schedule of Jill being at the hospital early in the mornings for grand rounds to get the Doctors' updates and such, then go home for a while and then after Tom gets off work, go back to the hospital for a few hours. Jill is not in any shape to drive yet so she will have help. My sister is going to be there for several days this week.
We can't thank you all enough for your continued prayers and support as there are still many hurdles ahead.
God Bless You ALL.
Noelle has had another "good" day. Her oxygen levels were stable. Her blood sugar has fluctuated quite a bit today. She also needed another transfusion of blood this morning. They had to give her fentanyl to sedate her a bit because she is fighting against the ventilator, trying to breath on her own and she is definitely not ready. They were able to start feeding her through a tube in her mouth. They are feeding her colostrum on a slow drip. She has tolerated it well so far. Jill was discharged today, but they had them stay in the hospital one more night. Tomorrow they will start working on their daily schedule of Jill being at the hospital early in the mornings for grand rounds to get the Doctors' updates and such, then go home for a while and then after Tom gets off work, go back to the hospital for a few hours. Jill is not in any shape to drive yet so she will have help. My sister is going to be there for several days this week.
We can't thank you all enough for your continued prayers and support as there are still many hurdles ahead.
God Bless You ALL.
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