One Week Old

Today started out well, but we got our first round of 'not-so-good-news' ...

Collin was doing really well this morning.. They started him on 3.5ML feedings... BUT  in the afternoon he aspirated some blood :(  they did an X-ray and could see that his feeding tube is still in the right place and his belly looks good..So they think he just got a little irritated from the tube.  To fix that problem they gave him some medicine to coat his belly and they are going to hold back on feedings until tomorrow to give him a break.

Collin's Echocardiogram came back and it showed that the ductus is still open but it is smaller than before.. they will re-do this test in 3 days, hopefully it will be closed by then.  If it's not they will give him another round of Indocin.  If it does not close after the last round of indocin its very possible he would have to get corrective surgery to close it.

They did a 2nd cranial ultrasound check on monday to look at the bleeding they saw from his first check. He did have a hemorrhage in his brain on the left side, which was a grade 4. This can cause many complications for Collin, but the worst part is that we wont know for quite some time if it had an effect on him.   Before it was not showing any signs of swelling. But after his last scan it showed increased ventrical size (called hydrocephalus) it means that the hemorrhage that he had caused a blood clot and is blocking the flow of spinal fluid from his brain down his spine.  The reason this is dangerous is because it can swell and push against healthy brain tissue and cause damage.  It is possible for this to clear up, but
 If the extra fluids have not drained on their own it can cause damage to the grey matter area of his brain.  Obviously we want to avoid that.. so to treat it he would have to get a reservoir drain because he is too small for a shunt.  If that happens he would have to be transferred to Boston Children's.  Because, even though our NICU is wonderful, they aren't able to perform that procedure here.  We are going to have to wait and see what the results of his next cranial are and what the neurologist says.. let's hope and pray that it clears up, we will take it as it comes.  He has just been doing so well, it was hard to hear that he may have a set back.

The good news for the day was that Jason was able to hold Collin for the first time and did Kangaroo Care for about an hour :)  Collin seemed very happy and relaxed.  He raised his hand up and was touching Jason's beard, we think he liked the feeling!!

Collin now looks settled for the night he is all snuggled in and still looking like an adorable little piggy nosed boy :)