Uncle Darren's Visit

I thought I'd post a quick update before heading to bed this evening. We went to visit Emily again today and met up at the hospital with my parents and my brother Darren who was in Chicago for a business meeting. Darren lives in St. Louis, so it was great to see him again, to introduce him to Emily, and for Logan and Audrey to play with Uncle Darren in the hospital playroom.

Emily is now 3 lbs 1 oz. We're excited that she has passed the 3 lb. mark! Also, Emily's blood counts are all fine since her blood transfusion on Sunday, so that was successful. She has, however, continued to have oxygen desaturations and even had one this afternoon while we were there. One of Emily's female doctors talked to me and said that they are still trying to figure out why these are happening so often. She said that they did a chest x-ray yesterday on Emily and found that her lungs looked a little "wet" which sometimes happens when the baby is taking in too much fluid and can have an effect on her oxygen saturation. They have decreased the volume of her feedings and are now fortifying the breastmilk so that she's still getting the same nutrition, just less volume. Maybe this will help cut down on the de-sats. We can hope so. Once her de-sats decrease, then she can come off the nasal cannula and oxygen that she is receiving.

Overall, though, this doctor said most parents would trade places with us in a heartbeat if the worst thing we have to worry about is de-sats. She said that overall Emily is doing really well, and this concern is a relatively minor one. That helps keep everything in perspective.