this week started off with darla jane having her regular check up with the cardiologist. the doc said that our little miss was doing well, except for the fact that she wasn't gaining enough weight.
(she did weigh 10 lbs though!)
we decided that we'd work on that by trying to offer more than we have been at feedings and see if that worked. there is the possibility of increasing the formula in the milk but that has the possibility of causing diarrhea so we are going to see if she just won't take more.
The week continued on smoothly until thursday evening. I hooked darla jane up to her pulse ox. monitor and her oxygen saturation was a little low. We were told that could happen and to just put her on a little bit of oxygen, so I did... and by early morning on Friday I was able to take the oxygen off and she was fine. All Friday she continued to be normal with her saturation. Saturday morning, I tested her right when she woke up and her saturation was LOW. 58% low. so back on the oxygen she went...and how. I had to turn it way up to get her into her normal range which is already low for the average person 75-85% I got to where I was able to keep the oxygen flowing at 1.5 liters but i called the cardiologist and let them know what was going on. They said I should bring her up to primary children's to get looked at. So we did...saturday morning. And she was admitted. Here she is, smiling away at the hospital.
We only stayed one night. We came home this afternoon. They common consensus is that she has a little bit of a cold. Because her heart is already working hard this little cold caused her saturation levels to go down. She seems a little bit congested but not much. I'm not sure...but i am sure, this little girl was happy to come home.
She is still on oxygen...she came home on 1/4 of a liter. Tonight, her saturation has gone down a little bit...she is needing to be at 1 liter to keep her in her normal range.
But is at least consistent at that. She doesn't have any major signs of a cold. But I hope and pray that her saturation is down because of a cold. and that in a few days she will be back up to normal and off oxygen. I called the cardiologist tonight to tell him we were needing to bump the oxygen just a little. He said "if its just a virus she will improve but if it's an issue with her heart she might not." I'm hoping and wish and praying that it is a virus and that her oxygen saturation levels will improve soon on their own as the virus goes away. Nathan says he's sure it's just a cold. I'm going with his guess. but I will be calling the cardiologist department to set up a follow up for her first thing in the morning. I will update after that. appointment.
we haven't met with the cardiologist since we were discharged from the hospital but i talked with him on the phone. he said if we are needing to increase the amount of oxygen she needs by too much and she is stable and doesn't seem to be in distress than she is ok, and doesn't need to be brought back in. And that if it's an issue with her heart we will probably need to gradually increase the amount of oxygen she is needing (which we haven't had to do). So she is doing ok...other than this cold . That we just need to kick!
