It is a sad day because Ken's parents had to go back home to South Carolina today. It was very nice having them here and we tried VERY hard to get them to move here. Although I know they would love to live here in Arkansas, responsibility and obligations won over and they headed home. Dick got everything painted except the window trim. He even went crazy and painted the garage door!! We had an amazing baby shower on Saturday--pictures to come. We got lots of gifts and hopefully with the next shower we will get lots more! It was very nice that Dick and Paula got to be here and participate in the shower.
Jack is doing okay. He is having lots of episodes where he is dropping his heart rate and also his oxygen level. They turned his oxygen up to 2 liters and increased his caffeine medication. Caffeine helps stimulate the preemies and helps them remember to breathe. The medication dose is based on their weight. Jack's current dose was based on a weight taken a couple weeks ago. Basically they think he outgrew his dose and they need to increase it. If that doesn't help his episodes, the doctors will look into the possibility of him refluxing his feeds.
Luke is still doing good. He was having a rough morning but doing better this afternoon! Last night his heart rate was higher than it normally is and his pulse ox (oxygen level) was lower. He received some extra sedation and that helped him for a little while and when I left last night, he was settled down and doing better. This morning his heartrate was back up (close to 200) and his pulse ox was all over the place. The doctors want his oxygen level to be between 85-95%. Luke would be 96%(higher is better than lower) and then 10 seconds later down to 65% and then 5 second later it would 92%. The bouncing pulse ox makes it hard to determine the oxygen amount he needs to be on. The doctors were weaning his nitric (gas for pulmonary hypertension) and he was off of it this morning. An echocardiogram was done this morning which showed pulmonary hypertension coming back. The doctors put him back on the nitric but at a lower setting than he was previously on. They also changed a couple of his vent setting. All that helped Luke and he settled down. His pulse ox was better and his heart rate went back to normal. They will do another echo on Friday and also a head ultrasound and renal ultrasound on Friday. If everything looks good with his heart on Friday, they may try to wean the nitric again.
Both boys are doing good with their tube feeding and they are both growing! Jack is 3 and 1/2lbs and Luke is just over 2lbs. Luke is growing a little slower but he will catch up soon!!
Ken and I are trying to figure out childcare for when the boys come home. There is no way I am putting them into daycare with the flu and RSV season about to be in full swing. Also with all the H1N1 going around, it will be even more scary to send them somewhere. They are so little and are already compromised, I am not going to risk it. Ken really wants to be a stay at home dad and I think that is great. I would love to stay home but I make more money and have more stable work hours than Ken does. We are trying to trim our budget down but it is hard. Are there any tips or advice any stay-at-homers can give us to help stretch our money? Email us at kendb@hotmail.com or raebarnes@hotmail.com
Again thanks for prayers and love that you are sending our way. We appreciate it!! Have a great week and we will be adding pictures soon!!
No comments:
Post a Comment