Friday night (January 6)

Sorry for the lack of an update yesterday but I haven't had a second to do it.  I am a busy woman, let me tell ya. 

When I left Silas on Thursday night, he was doing really good.  The pda was still there but very small.  Everything was going just fine.  I guess right after I left though things started going south.  He had a lot of a's and b's that night (stopping breathing, heartrate drops).  His color wasn't looking that great either.  The doctors decided to do some bloodwork on him to see what was going on and they decided that he really needed another blood transfusion because he just didn't have enough red blood cells.  This is the third time that he has needed a transfusion.  The reason is that his little body just can't make the cells fast enough to keep up with his needs, plus the nurses are always taking a little blood here and there for tests everyday and that doesn't help at all.  The down side of getting another transfusion is that all of the extra fluid in his heart can cause the pda to get big again.  The doctors decided that the benefits of the blood far outweighed the risks.  So, he received the blood this evening and the nurse said that he is looking and acting much much better.

He had a significantly better day today for several reasons.  They upped the pressure and the amount of help that he is getting on the cpap machine, they stopped his feeds, and they gave him the blood.  The nurse said that all of this is very very normal for a preemie his size.  She said that him having the a and b episodes the night before was just his way of communicating that he just wasn't ready to do all of that on his own yet.  He got tired of trying to work hard to breathe and digest food all at the same time and needed a little more help.  I'm glad he's feeling better and I'm praying that his pda does not get large again and that we can move on from that issue.  I am also praying that he continues to feel good and does not have to go back on the ventilator, which is a risk if that pda gets big again.  He has lost a couple of ounces and was down to 2 pounds 3 ounces.

In other family news, I had to take Carissa to the doctor today because I thought she broke her leg.  She was running and playing in the front yard and her foot went into a little hole and down she went.  As soon as she cried I could tell it was a real hurt.  She usually doesn't cry much and she just jumps back up after a fall - usually.  This was different and she just laid there until I scooped her up.  We were getting ready to leave so I put her in her carseat and put a new movie on for her and she seemed fine.  Then we went to Maleah's school to pick her up and Carissa wouldn't walk on her leg.  She kept saying that her foot hurt.  I had my friend Deb take a look at her foot and she thought it looked fine and the school nurse even took a look at it while we were there.  We all thought her foot looked fine - other then some ink where she had scribbled on it earlier with an ink pen while I wasn't looking.  I hadn't washed it off yet and was planning to at bathtime.  If I had known then that so many people would see that scribbled on foot today I would have washed it off when I had the chance.  Oh well.  Then we came back home and I carried her in and put her on the couch to watch tv.  I thought she would rest a little bit and would probably be up and running in no time.  Well, as time went by, she would only crawl all over the house and would not walk on it at all.  Since I really didn't want to end up in the emergency room I decided to bite the bullet and call the doctor.  They fit me in at 4:15 on a Friday.  I was so thankful!  The doctor immediately figured out that it was her leg and not her foot.  No wonder her foot looked fine!  I kind of felt like a dummy but if this ever happens again I guess I'll know what to look for.  He sent us over to the hospital for x-rays and there did not appear to be any broken bones.  But she still can't walk on it very well at all.  I brought her home and gave her some ibuprofen and eventually she started sort of hobbling along on it but she has a major limp and says "ow, ow, ow!" a lot when she walks.  The doctor said that if she is still doing that by Wednesday to bring her back in for more x-rays because sometimes when kids her age break a bone it doesn't show up on the x-ray immediately.  I really hope that she feels much better tomorrow and that it doesn't hurt her.  Poor thing!  She is not a complainer and is a pretty tough little cookie so if she says "ow!" I know it hurts.

Well, now I am going to go to bed and I am seriously hoping that tomorrow is a little calmer.  Or a lot calmer.