Eyes Open

We are thankful for another day of the status quo.  Today's win is that both kids seemed to be stooling regularly!  What parent gets happy about their kids poop, haha?!?!  Otherwise, there are no other changes to report.

The results of Scarlett's echocardiagram came back, and she still has the PDA and PFO.  Grayson's head ultrasound revealed he still has Grade 3 and 4 IVH.  We are very grateful that neither situations digressed!  At rounds, we had a new doctor who we will have through Wednesday.  She said that we won't be able to treat Scarlett's heart with medication any longer, so if we decide we need to take action she will require surgery.  However, yesterday's doctor didn't take that option so I don't know what to think...  

Scarlett's spinal fluid labs have not shown bacteria, but based on the evidence at hand they are saying she has Meningitis.  I don't know if its an official diagnosis or not, but the treatment plan is to take blood daily, and give her antibiotics for 14 days from a negative blood culture.  Her most recent blood culture was taken on the 14th and today tested positive :-/

This new doctor decided to draw spinal fluid from Grayson to see if he also has/had Meningitis.  Even though his blood cultures have come back negative, they shared the same womb and they found E coli in their placentas.  I protested some, and asked if we could treat him with 14 days of antibiotics to be safe, without drawing spinal fluid.  The doctor said she was going to try, but if she had trouble, she would go with that plan.  I'm not sure if I should have put my foot down or not. I guess its better to know than not know, and this doctor didn't seem like she cared if I consented.  And the bottom line is its done now...

Their other health issues are hindering their breathing so we have not been able to make any adjustments on the ventilator over the last couple days so there has not been any progress there.

Trish did Kangaroo Care with Grayson for about 90 minutes.  I had the chance to get more involved in their Care and Feeding times, learning how to "clean" their eyes, which is basically just wiping it down from the nose out.  I can add that to my repertoire of changing their diapers (harder than you think trying to reach into those portlets with these tiny diapers and all the wires!) and cleaning their mouths.

We were able to get pictures of both kiddoes with their eyes open!

Grayson:

Scarlett: