Another Night

Sweet Little McKenna, another night in the hospital. She has had a few heart drops outside of feedings, which has not happened since the beginning of life for her. We are rather worried about those. Drops with feedings are easy to correct, although nerve racking. If she has one outside of the feedings we are not always standing right there or aware of what is going on, so we are scared about how often she will have them. Doctor says these could be false alarms. They will download monitor tomorrow to determine if they were actual alarms.

While talking to doctor this morning he said we need to let McKenna have her heart rate drops even when we are not feeding her. We are not suppose to stimulate her...just sit, watch her stop breathing and watch her turn color. Let the alarm beep several times, check out the baby and note her color, calmly check her pulse...ARE YOU KIDDING ME was my response. How in the world is a parent suppose to watch their child turn blue and just observe as they stop breathing?!?!?! His thinking is that she cannot learn to come back on her own if we don't allow her to do this. Also, they need the data. If we don't allow for her to come back on her own the monitor can't tell the doctor what is going on so he has no way of correcting it. Guess we will "try" to refrain from immediate stimulation, but I still refuse to wait until she needs CPR!

McKenna is still having blood in her stools. They suspected it was a fisher (tear in rectum) but after three weeks of bleeding decided it must be something else. She has been put on special formula to see if she has allergic reaction to milk protein which would cause bloody stools, but since the blood started again today we suspect that it is not due to milk protein.

The doctor is going to talk to a GI specialist tomorrow and possibly do an upper GI scan to see what is going on and if there is something visible as to why she is having the stool problems. For now, that is what is keeping us in the hospital.

Please pray for McKenna's brain to develop and remind her to suck, breathe, swallow. Pray she doesn't have heart drops outside of feedings either and that her heart and brain are strengthened. Pray for blood in stools to go away, body to develop, lip swelling to go away, body to stop having "preemie trimmers", and overall health, wellness and development.

I was able to run home while grandma Dana watched McKenna and give Keaton hugs, kisses and a much needed bath. He did pretty well and only fussed a little bit. His diaper rash seems a tad bit better but is still pretty red and feels like it is scabbed over. All I can say is Desitin, Diaper Doo, and A&D Diaper Cream don't work. Trying Butt Paste now and hoping that helps. We'll see.

Keaton still seems to spend most his days eating then sleeping which makes easy for caring for him. He slept today while Grandma watched him and daddy mowed the yard. He gave grandma a smile too while she was talking to him. Still not sure if it was an actual smile or just gas but either way I am sure he was just loving be held by his grammy.

Grandpa Dana got to feed Keaton this morning while daddy went for his run and he seemed to do well for him. I think the twins already have the grandparents wrapped around their fingers.

Please pray for Keaton's motor skills to develop. He gets irritated often and shows signs of overstimulation. Doesn't do well with eye contact lately or interaction. Tuesday First Steps comes out to observe him and tell us if he needs occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy (for feedings). So we are excited to see what their thoughts are and to learn things we can do to help him develop.

Please pray for Keaton's overall health as well. Pray that he doesn't get sick or infections. Pray for growth and strength and continued good feedings.

Two more weeks and Nana Deb is heading out from Montana to help with her grandbabies. We can hardly wait to show off the twins and have them loved on by her. Praying McKenna is well enough and home by then.