Today brings great news on all three fronts! Nanette is feeling much better and did no fever last night. She will finish her antibiotic IVs tonight. Dr. Chin is talking about discharging her tomorrow if she continues to remain fever-free.
Zeke has been "giving up" a bit of his feedings, which means he has some residual milk in his stomach that is not getting processed as quickly as would be expected. It is partly due to the air that he keeps swallowing from the CPAP (constant positive air pressure). The CPAP is only giving 10 breaths/minute and his total rate is about 50. Since his breathing is great and the CPAP is pushing air into his stomach, the doctors agreed to take him off the CPAP today and let him breath 100% on his own. He still has a canulla (little air tubes in his nose like anyone on oxygen) so the fraction inspired oxygen (FIO2) can be adjusted to keep his blood oxygen saturation levels high. Lately, he had been at 21% FIO2 (normal) and is "high satting" on occasion. So we expect good results for Zeke breathing on his own.
Gabe has been extubated for almost a full day now and is doing well breathing mostly on his own. He is still on CPAP, but is responding well. The ventilator is giving him 20 breaths per minute, which, when added to his spontaneous breaths, is giving a total rate of about 65 breaths/minute. He is going to start on 10mL/day of breast milk and we will see how he responds. His weight is down to 1230 grams, which is over 100 grams less than his birth weight (this is the weight he should be at 1 week). Dad changed another diaper and took his temperature today.
I am so glad to hear about even their little improvements. And I'm glad to hear Nanette is feeling better. It will feel so nice to come home won't it! Thanks for keeping the blog updated. Let us know if we can help with anything.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I fully expect the Stevenson twins to be bigger than the Means twins by about 6 months.