Wednesday's Rounds

We made it to the hospital in time for rounds this morning. Actually the docs never really get started on time, so we usually get some quiet time with him before the crowd of people gather in the hall outside of his room. They started feeds again this morning and stopped his phototherapy treatment since his numbers were looking good. When we go back this afternoon they'll have taken him of the respirator again for another try on the CPAP. The NICU pediatrician said his lungs are looking better, and at this point the breath rate is decreased as far as possible on the ventilator.

One thing that has come up over the past few days is that he has developed a noticeable heart murmur that they didn't hear when he was first admitted. The echocardiogram did show a moderate opening, but the blood is flowing in the correct direction. This is not uncommon at all in preemies, and Jas actually also has a heart murmur. The docs explained the possible courses of action that may need to taken if he isn't successful with this attempt off the respirator. Right now the decision has been made to just monitor his progress and then discuss medication options in the future. Sometimes the duct will just close on its own. If in the future medication treatment doesn't work there would be a chance we'd have to meet with the cardiologist to discuss more invasive measures. It was reassuring however to see that another baby on the NICU needed to go to surgery for the heart procedure while we were there this morning, and he/she was back up on the unit within 45 minutes. Technology these days is amazing! We'll post more pics after our afternoon visit.