Ever Had One of Those Days?

Reagan has! Poor baby has had a very rough day! This morning she started having some trouble with bradying and desatting during her bottle feeding. So, this morning when I was there the speech therapist worked with us to see what was going on. During that feeding she was having a super high heart rate, red faced, very agitated and sounded very congested and kept gulping a lot. She was very difficult to feed - which was a big change from before. She would also periodically get a big spit up smell - which was also new - and the speech therapist said that this is consistent with reflux as well. So, the doctors rounded this morning and decided to run some tests. 1 - urinalysis to check for infection 2- blood work to check white blood cell count to check for infection 3 - gastric pH check for reflux. After the order came in, the nurse tried to get all of the samples she needed for the tests and lets just say that Reagan was less than cooperative. During the course of ten minutes she went through 3 or 4 diapers, pulled out her feeding tube, yanked off all of her leads (the things that measure her heart rate, oxygen saturation, temperature, etc.) and proceeded to cry and scream so loud that she made herself gag over and over again because she was so upset. It was horrible! I thought watching your kid get vaccinated was tough!

I do not have the test results just yet but pray that whatever is going on is not something major or not something that has Reagan in a lot of pain. During all of this Cameron was wide awake trying to check out all that was going on. Her heart rate was also over 200 but she appeared to be completely calm. So, her nurse said that she might need blood - I told her that even though I had hoped that she wouldn't need it anymore that it did not surprise me. The way our course in the NICU has been so far, Reagan usually needs blood and then Cameron usually follows within a week. I do not know if they took blood to check her hematocrit or not but I guess they probably will if her heart rate continues to skyrocket. Cameron was also not really in the mood to eat with the bottle today. She just wanted to hang out with Mommy and be out of her isolette. I think she knows that Reagan is out and she wants to do the same. On a good note, I am getting a little better at changing the girls diapers and clothes over all the wires and leads. I will keep you posted as to what we find out. Please pray that the girls can remain healthy so that we can work towards them coming home as quickly as possible. I also pray that they are able to pinpoint what is going on with Reagan so that she could hopefully be treated and back on track quickly. Although I would prefer for her to not have to take medication for anything longterm, I do not like seeing her in so much pain like I did today. So, if she needs medication for reflux (if she does have it) then so be it. Also, please continue to pray for the girls eyes. Tuesday is the big day where we should really see improvement. I pray that their eyes have not progressed and that the doctor would see a dramatic improvement!

Just spoke with the NICU...on a good note - Cameron is now 3 lbs!!! Reagan's nurse said that her white blood cell count came back fine, her gastric pH came back at a level that is just above the cut off for giving medication for reflux. She said that Reagan is acting as if she may have aspirated some of the reflux into her lungs. They have decided to take Reagan off of all food by mouth for the night at least. They cannot check for aspirate by x-ray until the morning (it wouldn't show up until then) but she also said that even if it is that they cannot do anything for her but let it resolve itself. In the meantime, they are trying to elevate her bed further to help deal with the actual reflux. It appears as if reflux is the culprit of today's drama. I only pray that we can find some ways to help Reagan be comfortable and not in pain.