Answers Please

Nothing more stressful than spending an ENTIRE day going back and forth to doctor's and walking away without answers and feeling completely helpless. It has to be the most difficult thing for a parent to watch their child suffer or go through things and knowing you can't help them or find answers for them. So, here is what we "found out" if you could really call it.

McKenna's heart drop was legit yesterday. Turned out she only had one, but her heart rate (normally 160s) got down to 40. SCARY! It was outside of a feeding which other than after her two month shots she hadn't had them outside of a feeding since she was born. After reviewing monitor report they think she most likely was choking on spit up or pushing really hard to stool and holding her breath too long. Her suggestion is for us to elevate McKenna after feedings and see if that helps.

We are encouraged during the next two weeks to have McKenna OFF the monitor as much as possible. If we are with McKenna and watching her she should not have the monitor on. The doctor thinks we are geting so use to having it that we won't be able to part with it comfortably when it is time. So during feedings we are suppose to have it off and just watch for cues as to if she is having heart drops. And when we are with her just suppose to watch her color and all. Basically only time she should have monitor on is if she is sleeping, we are sleeping or we are in the other room. In two weeks they will download monitor again. If no heart drops outside of feedings we will have monitor taken away.

Oxygen monitor last night went off only a few times during feedings, but the doctor didn't think it was enough to require oxygen during feedings. That is great news for us since it required Kyle to be up with McKenna's feedings last night too - too difficult for me to carry two monitors plus a baby.

McKenna weighed 6 lb 1 oz (she drank 1.5 ounces right before being weighed so she probably weighs a little less) meaning she gained 4 ounces this week. They like to see around 5 oz weight gain weekly, so she is a little lower than usual but they are comfortable still with her weight gain. She is not eating well the past two days and has struggled to eat her minimum (1.5 oz every three hours) so we are a little worried about that, but they don't have any suggestions on how to get her to eat better or be more interested in the white cheddar smelling formula. We will be going one or two times a week for weight checks until her four month check-up.

McKenna's blood counts are basically the same as last week. This is good news that they haven't dropped, but bad news that they really haven't gotten any better. Since our Pediatrician was out of town today we won't know until later in the week when we need to go back to see her or have more blood work done.

We are still not able to have babies around other babies or kids due to their weak immune systems. The doctor will re-evaluate this at four month check-up.

As for Keaton...he is a tank. Gaining weight like crazy, sleeping well and doing two four hour shifts at night, meaning we are down to two night feedings. Woo hoo.

Keaton has been really fussy lately though. Not sure if this is just him missing Grammy Deb, is from reflux or just gas. Either way, praying that goes away soon. He has been spitting up A LOT lately after feedings. Doctor said we should tilt his bed up so his body is down angled after each feeding to help prevent spit up. If that doesn't work we can consider adding cereal to his milk, which I would really prefer not to do at this point if possible.

Prayer requests are for Keaton to stop with fussiness, continue sleeping longer through the nights and learn to sleep through entire night, and for his reflux to go away.

For McKenna, please pray that she learns to suck/breathe/swallow when eating, that the added iron doesn't constipate her (yes, i know that is a weird prayer request), that she never has a heart drop ever again, that she starts WANTING to eat and we don't have to force her to eat, that she gains weight and for overall health and wellness.

Thanks everyone...has been a long day so if you called for updates or sent texts, sorry we didn't get back to you.