Payton's PDA

Dr. N (neonatologist) just called with results from Payton's echocardiogram. He has patent ductus arteriosus, (more PDA information here), or PDA. When we met with Dr. N this morning during rounds she showed us his chest x-ray which showed a slighlty enlarged left side of his heart and still "hazy" lungs. She was now believing that one of Payton's heart vessels did not close off at birth like it should have when those 1st deep breaths are initially taken. This may be associated with his lack of surfactant in his premature lungs as well. Payton will be treated with indomethacin every 12 hrs for the next 36 hrs and have a repeat echo this Friday. We are hoping that this will show a closure of the vessel and we will not be considering any further treatments.

On the bright side they did take out Payton's ventilator today and he seems to be doing just fine on the CPAP only. We are hoping when we are in tonight that this will mean that we can finally hold him, but will understand if we need to wait until tomorrow. When determining holding they also take into consideration the baby's mood and the state of the surroundings. They do pick up on a lot of commotion at times and their side of the NICU filled up yesterday so our privacy has dwindled a little bit.

Evan and Riley are now "roomies!" They started sharing a space sometime last night and I think really enjoy each other's company. Riley was even reaching out his hand to Evan this morning, it was precious. They have also increased E and R's feedings to 11 ml every 3 hours, this is huge since they started out at 3 ml! (Payton just started 3ml feedings today and is doing great, go buddy!!) All 3 of their bilirubin labs decreased today (hoot hoot!) and E and R have even been switched to bili-blankets rather than the overhead lights. Some of you may remember when Brody was a "glow worm" with his bili-blanket. This is an improvement as we can now swaddle these wild men with the bili-blanket on the inside! Wild Men? Yes, these 2 need to be tamed at times and swaddling seems to do the trick! They like to know what is going on at all times, with everyone, and also let you know if something is bothering them. (Hopefully Payton will stay mellow and we won't have 3 feisty babes, haha)

Now, time to go feed Brody and give him some special attention before we return to the NICU.

xoxo, Brooke and Ben