We're up to 16 cc's of milk every three hours and Miller seems to be tolerating it with no problem. We think the extra calories are having an impact. He's more alert and responsive, and we've never seem him open his eyes as wide as he did today. They're definitely having an impact on his diapers...(shoooweee!)
Miller's getting good at this kangaroo thing, too. He went for 2 hours today! Normally, he'll get a little tired and cranky after abount an hour. But today, he settled into a really nice breathing pattern and just relaxed.
Mom met Dr. George, the Neurosurgeon today. We've been dealing with RNs, Nurse Practitioners, Clinicians, Radiologists, Respiratory Therapists, and Neonatologists. Dr. George is pretty much the head honcho right now. He had his own opinion of Miller's IVH and it was a little different than the others. Dr. George seems to think that Miller's bleed is unique. There are four different levels of bleeds, with each level demonstrating elements of the other levels plus the level the bleed reaches. So, a grade three bleed has elements of both grade one and two in addition to grade three. Miller's bleed is a grade four, but doesn't seem to demonstrate the elements of a grade one, two or three bleed. What does this mean? We don't know yet. And Dr. George's lips are sealed for now.
Miller will continue to get ultrasound head scans every Friday to track the progress of his reabsorbtion. In addition, Dr. George thinks we should do an MRI, which will provide a little more clarity to the situation. But, an MRI would be very uncomfortable for Miller right now. If you've ever had an MRI, you know it's no fun. It's cold and it takes forever. Plus, he will need to have anesthesia and be intibated...scary stuff for new parents and crummy for a three week old little biscuit. We talked about it with the doctors and the results of the MRI would not change his current or short term treatment; nor would it reveal anything that would require immediate action. As such, we've decided to hold off on the MRI until Miller's a little older and more able to tolerate it.
In the midst of all of this, we do have many blessings to count. One of them being milk production. We have heard that breast feeding and milk production can be very tricky, especially for momma's of preemies. Since their bodies are not ready to have a baby, sometimes they're not ready to feed one either. We must have a guardian angel (thankfully) when it comes to this because our cups literally runneth over. Thanks to the Smart family, we have a safe place to store it until Miller catches up.
We are looking forward to the March of Dimes WalkAmerica event on Saturday. A big thank you to those of you who are participating or sponsoring Team Miller! In a situation like this one it is easy to feel helpless. It's definitely empowering to support an organization like the March of Dimes...especially knowing that the research funded by them has probably already been very beneficial to our little one.
Love to you all,
Danny & Stephanie
Miller's getting good at this kangaroo thing, too. He went for 2 hours today! Normally, he'll get a little tired and cranky after abount an hour. But today, he settled into a really nice breathing pattern and just relaxed.
Mom met Dr. George, the Neurosurgeon today. We've been dealing with RNs, Nurse Practitioners, Clinicians, Radiologists, Respiratory Therapists, and Neonatologists. Dr. George is pretty much the head honcho right now. He had his own opinion of Miller's IVH and it was a little different than the others. Dr. George seems to think that Miller's bleed is unique. There are four different levels of bleeds, with each level demonstrating elements of the other levels plus the level the bleed reaches. So, a grade three bleed has elements of both grade one and two in addition to grade three. Miller's bleed is a grade four, but doesn't seem to demonstrate the elements of a grade one, two or three bleed. What does this mean? We don't know yet. And Dr. George's lips are sealed for now.
Miller will continue to get ultrasound head scans every Friday to track the progress of his reabsorbtion. In addition, Dr. George thinks we should do an MRI, which will provide a little more clarity to the situation. But, an MRI would be very uncomfortable for Miller right now. If you've ever had an MRI, you know it's no fun. It's cold and it takes forever. Plus, he will need to have anesthesia and be intibated...scary stuff for new parents and crummy for a three week old little biscuit. We talked about it with the doctors and the results of the MRI would not change his current or short term treatment; nor would it reveal anything that would require immediate action. As such, we've decided to hold off on the MRI until Miller's a little older and more able to tolerate it.
In the midst of all of this, we do have many blessings to count. One of them being milk production. We have heard that breast feeding and milk production can be very tricky, especially for momma's of preemies. Since their bodies are not ready to have a baby, sometimes they're not ready to feed one either. We must have a guardian angel (thankfully) when it comes to this because our cups literally runneth over. Thanks to the Smart family, we have a safe place to store it until Miller catches up.
We are looking forward to the March of Dimes WalkAmerica event on Saturday. A big thank you to those of you who are participating or sponsoring Team Miller! In a situation like this one it is easy to feel helpless. It's definitely empowering to support an organization like the March of Dimes...especially knowing that the research funded by them has probably already been very beneficial to our little one.
Love to you all,
Danny & Stephanie
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