Saturday, September 24, 2005

Day 12: Bump in the Road

Today was our first bad day. Aerin had a number of apnea episodes, one of which was accompanied by bradycardia (slow heart rate). This is not at all unusual in preemies, but since she hasn't had more than a few of these episodes since she was born, the doctors are taking some precautions. Dr. Seguira described his treatments as "prophylactic medicine," which means that he is just taking precautions, not treating anything acute.

Her hematocrit was low, so they decided to do a blood transfusion. They are also stopping her feedings for now, in case she is reacting to reflux. They'll most likely resume them on Monday. They're starting her on antibiotics, on the off chance that she has an infection. We won't get her cultures back for 48 to 72 hours. Lastly, they're starting her on Lasix. She's still on the biliblanket, but we're hopeful she'll be able to come off of it tomorrow.

Aerin slept through all of this, which is certainly a blessing. Andrew and I are somewhat worried, but we're confident in the doctors and nurses and we know that this is just a bump in the road of Aerin's recovery.

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