Another blood transfusion March 31, 2008

I just got a call from the NICU. They checked her blood count today and it was too low again. They hope to start what will be her second blood transfusion since birth. They thought it would start shortly after her normal 3 PM feeding and end around 6 PM. I’m going to go in around 5 PM so that I can be with her during the last hour or so of the transfusion. I was able to hold her during the end of the last one and I can’t explain it, but it made me feel like I was helping somehow – even if I was just comforting her. And no, I don’t know what this does to the chances she will come home at the end of the week. I knew it depended on how she was doing and we’ll just continue to wait and see.

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Her second transfusion went well. She was very alert during the final hour when I was present.  Actually, she was getting rather impatient that she wasn’t being fed because they were waiting for the transfusion to end around 6:10 to start her gavage feeding.  Once the formula was most of the way in her belly she finally drifted off to sleep.  The nurse said that this time her blood level had not yet caused any symptoms of any kind.  Apparently, they do bloodwork on all the NICU infants every Monday and the level was low so a transfusion was ordered.  She did seem rather alert and her color was good, so she may bounce back from this rather quickly this time.

Additionally, she had her eyes checked today and she passed just fine.  No further eye exams will be ordered prior to her release.  They even gave her a little certificate with a lion on it that said “I was brave!”  How cute :0)

Good day … followed by a bad night/day March 13, 2008

First, I’ll start with the good news. On 3/11 Kalyssa was 3 lbs 2.4 oz … AND she drank her first bottle yesterday!!!! I didn’t witness it, but the nurses were all a buzz about it when I walked in and told me I’d be so proud. She drank all 24 ccs of her formula from the bottle like a big girl – though I am told that the bottle was as big as she was.

The bad news is that apparently Kalyssa started having more apnea episodes last night than she normally does and therefore the doctor ordered bloodwork to be done. They discovered that she was low on blood. Per the nurse who called me, this is very typical for preemies born in the two pound range. Their little bodies are growing at such a rapid rate and their blood level just hasn’t increased to match it – this also effects the amount of oxygen she is getting so they have also temporarily put the oxygen strip back under her nose. It does have low level oxygen and not just air this time.

So … I had to give permission for them to determine her blood type and get a donor for a blood transfusion today. She has the same blood type as mommy it turns out. The picture above isn’t very good, but you can see that her left arm is well wrapped and hosts an IV. I was able to hold her for the last hour of the transfusion and everything seems to have gone well. I’ll be calling later this evening to check in on her*. She weighed 3 lbs 4.9 ozs yesterday evening … when I call in I should find out what she weighs today. I’m told it’s possible she may drop a tiny bit due to everything she has been through today, but it shouldn’t be by a lot.

Keep praying, everyone!

*I called at 9:30 PM and she was just weighed at 3 lbs 5.1 ozs.  They were giving her a bath and preparing to feed her.  They said she seemed to be doing OK after the blood transfusion today and all … Everything is looking good so far.  We hope the transfusion did the trick and she’ll be back to trying that bottle again soon!  (They skipped it today because she was having to go through so much already with IVs etc.)