Thursday May 15, 2008

It has been a pretty quiet day for the girls. Mom and Dad got to hold them again from 3-5pm. Evie is going to have 2 more doses of Indocin to give them her a little more help to make sure the ductus (patent ductus arteriosus) closes. Maggie started Decadron (or Dexamethasone the generic name, a corticosteroid) today to help her lungs develop. Per discussion with the Nurses, it mostly reduces inflammation, which then helps everything work better. The downside is decreased weight gain and a decline when coming off of them. But, Maggie did get her first “feeding” today (while being held by Mom, but since it goes in via feeding tube, it doesn’t really seem like much). She got 1.5cc of milk. In 6 hours, depending on how she digested, she’ll get more! Evie needs to wait until she completes her Indocin before she can resume eating.

During kangaroo care, Dad kept claiming that Evie was saying “dada”. I think that’s a bit farfetched since she doesn’t even cry yet. But Maggie got to read a wonderful book of Mother Goose nursery rhymes that her Aunt Brandy and Uncle Zach sent. Mom loves it because it is illustrated by Mary Engelbreit!

Note: I’ve added hyperlinks to WebMD on some of the medical terms in the posts that give a more detailed explanation.