Aiden and Evan - 7/29

We got some worrying news today about Aiden’s heart. One of the nurses started hearing a murmur in his heart. One of the valves in his heart is not closing yet which can result in improper blood flow into or out of the lungs. It sounded that this is not too uncommon in babies this age but usually it will close on its own in the first several days. To help Aiden out, they are going to give him some medicine which usually will make it start closing properly. They are going to see if this works over the next four or five days. If not, Aiden may have to have a surgery to correct the problem.

Since both boys are having issues taking and digesting milk, they want to use a new formula that uses concentrated breast milk called Prolacta to mix with Janel’s breast milk. Studies so far on Prolacta show that it is less likely to cause intestinal problems because it does not use any cow’s milk. Janel knows all about this stuff and seems excited that they will get to use it.

Still no sign of infection in the samples they have growing in the lab which is encouraging. The boys are still on antibiotics as a preventative measure.

Both boys are still doing well on their breathing. No signs of apnea yet.

After trying twice yesterday to place the PICC in Evan they decided to place a PIV in the back of his head. The PIV is more or less the same as an IV and they will still need to get the PICC placed. I’m not sure if they will try again tonight or wait till tomorrow.

We were warned today that it is not uncommon for babies as young as our boys to go through a slump after about two weeks of life. We’ll have to wait and see what happens and hold on as best we can.
Today when we were visiting the boys the nurse turned Evan onto his side. He seems to really like being on his side as this made him sit still and look less agitated. It also allowed us to see the back of his head for the first time. The fuzz there thickens up into blonde hair which you can see in the photo above. I can’t wait to see the boys with out their stockings on.