Brain Scans and Morning Rounds

This story has a happy ending, so bear with us.

At around 2:30 am last night / this morning, Mom and Dad were enjoying a routine, middle-of-the-night pumping.  Because Lucas and Olivia are living in the NICU, and because they are still several weeks away from being able to breast feed, Mom will pump up to 10 times a day to ensure the kids have enough to eat - now and when they're ready for direct mom-to-baby service.  Lucas began eating breast milk (or colostrum at this point) just after his first twenty four hours.  Mom was able to feed her son by holding up the syringe that is attached to a line that goes through his mouth directly to his stomach.  Olivia, after battling with her lungs for nearly her first full three days, just got her first colostrum today.  Mom got to give Lucas one of his first bits of colostrum.  Here is a picture of Dad giving him some milk yesterday at dinner:

But back to this morning.  As Dad was cleaning pump parts, the resident caring for Olivia walked into the room.  We need to obtain your consent, she said, because Olivia's blood counts are low and she needs a transfusion.  It could be nothing (many preemies have 4 or 5 transfusions during their stay at the NICU).  It could also be a bleed in her brain, which ranges from not a big deal to a very big deal.  We will be doing head ultrasounds on both Lucas and Olivia in the morning, she said, and then we'll know whether she has a bleed.  Sign here.  Sleep tight.

Through this middle of the night visit, Marni and I, though we had experienced much of it already, were continuing our crash course in just how real this experience will be.  We sat with each other for a while in fear and then tried to salvage what sleep we could from the night.

 Today we were able to be in the NICU during the doctors morning rounds.  It is really an awesome sight.  A team of 3-5 doctors (residents, fellows, and an attending) and the nurses stand in a circle, summarize each child's last 24 hours of life, and talk about what worked, what didn't, and what to try going forward.  I find it amazing that it takes five of the smartest people I have ever met in my life, working 24 hours a day in shifts, to do what Marni's body would do all by itself. 

As we walked through Olivia's continued progress in learning how to breathe, we learned that things had gotten better since the night before, with Olivia finally enjoying her first semi-uneventful day (her first three were full of action and stress).  Olivia is now using a breathing tube that breathes for her to ensure that her left lung does not collapse, but for the first time she is breathing the same level of air as the rest of us.  Though the tube is scary because it means she is not breathing on her own, it is a blessing because her lungs are improving, and, it actually allowed the nurse to take off her hat and give us our first view of her beautiful face:

And, I promised a happy ending.  When we got to the end of Olivia's report, we learned that the transfusion went well; she did not reject the donor blood and her counts were back up to good levels.  Most importantly, the brain scans came back: negative for both Olivia and her big brother.  I asked if I could put my hands up in the air in celebration.  They said yes, although there were still a few brain scans on the horizon.  Just for today, my hands are remaining in the air.