Difficult Day of Bad News

Seriously I think there must be some type of rule that if you are positive and say anything is going right with your babies something negative is bound to happen. What a difficult afternoon!

We'll start with McKenna...she has done well with her 3 ml every six hours so they increased it to every three hours this morning, and this evening will begin increasing quantity by 1/2 ml every six hours. This is a slow start to reintroducing food, so hopefully it is slow enough to prevent another infection to her gut. We are hoping the breast milk, even though a small amount, along with the IV fluids will help her gain weight.

Her blood count is worse and she is "extremely animic" so they are starting her blood transfusion this afternoon. This is an eight hour process and she will have to have another IV put in her body to give her the transfusion. The one in her hand ended up popping out so they put a new one in her foot last night, but they will have to put in a second IV for the blood so she can stay on the fluids. Her body being as small as it is doesn't seem to take the IVs very well because they keep going bad every couple days and she really throws a fit getting new ones. Who can blame her?

We finally got the results from the brain scan and it appears that McKenna has "irregularity in the germenalmatrix". This means that she has a small amount of blood that is similar to a bruise. It should go away on its own, but they will do scans weekly to make sure that ventricles don't get bigger and that the blood goes away.

Please pray her transfusion goes as planned and she doesn't get any infections from it, that the blood on the brain goes away and that her body continues to digest the food and accepts higher quantity. Please also continue praying for overall health, weight gain and that she stays free of infections.

Poor Keaton...he was doing so well and apparently I was too positive about his health because today we found out he has MRSA which is basically a staff infection. It is not in his body, rather on the outside, so it can't be treated with antibiotics. However, due to the type of infection, they are moving him to isolation. He will be there until he gets three negative test results. They will test him only once a week. So that means he will be in isolation at least three weeks, if not longer.

My heart breaks for Keaton because I just keep thinking about him in a little isolation room by himself or with other sick babies and how lonely that is going to be. I already worry about the babies feeling all alone all day, and this is for sure a step back. He was finally by his sister and even though he couldn't see/hear or even know she was there by him, it was comforting for us that they were closer. Hopefully he will be okay in isolation.

We will still be able to visit him, but we will have to wear gowns and gloves and all that to see him. The poor little guy. We are grateful it is not in his body, but so sad for him still about being moved.

Keaton had two heart drops today. This is not abnormal for being preemies. McKenna has several a day. However, Keaton hasn't had these in over a week, so we are a little worried about that. Hoping that he will be okay and trusting with time they will go completely away.

On a positive note, Keaton did not have any bleeding on the brain and we are very grateful for that! And he is still doing well with his feedings - one ounce every three hours with 4 calories added.

Please pray for heart drops to go away, for continued progress on feedings, for weight gain and overall health. Pray for this infection to go away immediately and that he wouldn't have to be in isolation one day longer than necessary. And, that he would be protected from any future infections or diseases.

Thanks everyone for your prayers. They sure do need them!!!