Perspective

Spoiler alert: this story has a happy ending.

Last night, Mom's cell phone rang at 10:30pm. Ever since the kids were born, there is a momentary anxiety when the phone rings, until we can check the caller ID.  This time it was the hospital.  Since Mom was brushing her teeth, Dad answered the phone.  Clearly something was not quite right.  Yes, the brady episodes, Dad said on his end of the conversation.  A possible infection?  Consent.  Let me tell you, it's very challenging to hear only one half of what you know is a less than a stellar conversation about the health of your child in the NICU.  Only once Dad got off the phone did we realize that we could have used the speaker phone feature on the iPhone - but you don't always think logically in these sorts of situations. 

The fellow was calling to get our consent in case Lucas needed a blood transfusion.  They had been monitoring his "work of breathing" since the morning, and he was having a lot more bradys than is usual for him (we've been looking at less than two a day for probably a week).  They had taken an x-ray of his lungs, which seemed to show mild haziness.  It could be reflux, the fellow explained, or it could be an infection like pneumonia.  Another big word you don't want to hear when your child is in the NICU - infection.  They had drawn some bloodwork to rule out infection, but the increased work of breathing could also be due to anemia, with insufficent red blood cells making it hard to circulate oxygen throughout the body.  To her credit, the fellow had realized that it would be really late when she got the blood results back and called us at 10:30pm to avoid be woken up by this call - something that happened during our first couple nights in the hospital when Olivia needed a transfusion.  It's much harder to proces things when you're half asleep.  We asked what to expect in the morning.  He may have been transfused, she explained, and he may be temporarily on an IV to get fluids. 

And in the morning, that's exactly what had happened.  The fellow who had phoned called us over at we came itno the nursery and told us that Lucas was doing much better.  During rounds, that view was confmired by another senior fellow.  The initial bloodwork had shown no elevated counts that suggested he had an infection (though it takes 48 hours to completely rule it out), and it had shown that his hematocrit reamined quite low.  Though his perfomring -enhancing durg has started taking effect, Lucas needed some help getting enough cells to carry oxygen through his blood.  The good news is that he has responded really well to the transfusion.  He was nice and pink this morning and had no bradys duiring the day today.  The doctors are pretty confident they addressed the underlying issues behind his respitory challenges. However, because of the stress from yesterday, and all the pokes and pricks, the doctors discontinued breast feeding for the day.  A bummer, but understandable.  We're proud of him for knowing when to ask for help. And for responding so excellently once help arrived.

Not to be outdone, Olivia continued to do wonderfully.  It seems like every morning she has less desats.  She continues to slowly gain weight, now up to 1,415 grams (3 lbs, 2 ounces!)  During rounds, the fellow predicted that we're only a day or two away from her coming off cpap.  To practice, she had somehow worked her hat fairly far up her forehead, so that she could more easily open her eyes.  And she spent a good part of the morning practicing her cute faces on Mom and Dad.  We are going to have trouble saying no to this little darling.

Check her out here: http://www.vimeo.com/10023499
password: lucasandolivia 

The moral of the story is that in another day or two Lucas should be back to nursing and learning to take food by mouth.  Olivia will not be far behind.  By the end of the week the stress of last night should seem well behind us, and before we know it this whole experience will be only a memory, where we can preserve only the best parts.  And this is the happy ending :)