ok, i can't say that i wasn't warned. i certainly heard from everyone i knew with any nicu experience under their belt to be prepared for the roller coaster, aka the preemie shuffle (two steps forward, one step back). after the initial days of ventilators and IVs the boys had just been coasting along. i naively thought we weren't going to ride the roller coaster. word to the wise - listen to the advice of those that have been there before you.
right before christmas max had a set back. everything was going great, he was basically just eating and growing - then wham he is having bloody diapers. i mean it seemed like it happened just like that. i went to bed one night thinking everything was fine, the next morning i called his nurse like i do every morning. i expected to hear what i usually heard, max had a good night, nothing really to report. instead, she starts with, well, max had a rough night. for an endless 48 hours we were waiting for blood results and expecting the news to be that he had developed NEC, basically a deadening of part of the bowel. pretty serious stuff! thankfully, it looks like max just picked up a virus. he is finishing up the antibiotics they started him on to treat NEC or anything else while we waited on results, and the diapers have cleared up. he even breastfed tonight for about 20 minutes - a huge improvement over all my other attempts to breastfeed him!
and that is just when the other shoe drops. the nurse practicioner walks in and says that keegan might need a blood transfusion. yikes! his red blood count numbers are low, and right now we are just watching out for signs that he is not tolerating this drop. apparantly the transfusions are more of a last resort kind of thing - which doesnt instill much confidence. keegan did get started on some medication to help produce the blood cells, but it takes 2 weeks to kick in! i have learned all too well that anything can happen in two weeks. so i guess we just wait and pray.
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