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

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.

NICU Day 3 (December 10th)

  ***Written by Chris McDowell, Jill's Mother***

Praise the Lord--Another somewhat stable day for Noelle. Her oxygen levels were pretty consistent today. They had dropped a bit, but the medical team expected that because they put her on her tummy to sleep last night. She rested much better, but it is harder for her to keep a higher O2 level.
She did also bruise a bit from sleeping on her tummy-- she is so fragile, so she is on her back tonight. Her glucose was down a bit so they gave her something for that and it was back to normal range this evening.
They are going to give her another small transfusion tonight. It's hard for her body to keep up since they have to keep drawing blood to check different levels. Jill and Tom both have gotten to hold her briefly in their hands as the nurses have changed out the bedding and sterile foam "cradle" that couches Noelle. She likes to hang onto their fingers.
Any little imbalance is so crucial to her system, but they keep an extremely close eye on everything and God has been gracious.
Jill is expected to be released later tomorrow and then they will begin the daily treks to the hospital. Grand rounds start at 9AM so Jill will be there early each morning and stay through the morning, then probably go home to rest for a few hours before Tom gets off work and then they will go back up for several hours each day.
They are cherishing each day and thank everyone for their prayers, support and love.
God Bless.