Bella's Setback – Pulmonary Hemorrhage

Bella June 15th - on Oscillator

First, a nice pic, above of Bella.  Her hair is starting to get long.  It's so nice to see her without the mask on.  It's really hit or miss whether we can get a nice picture of the kids.  It so happened that tonight they were running some tests on Bella and Owen and they had the top of the incubators off.  Crazy dad started taking pics, with ninja-like efficiency.  Unfortunately, we didn't have as much luck getting a picture of Noah. 

Bella had been doing fantastic to this point.  The nurses warn you again and again that there will be ups and downs.  She had her first major down Sunday morning (June 14).  At approximately 6am she stopped breathing.  The kids often have spells a couple times a shift but she didn't start breathing on her own again.  They tried to coax her along but she started turning colors and looked really bad, by their accounts.  The practitioner said that there was about ten doctors around her (find that hard to believe since there's not that much room but that's what she said) and they worked on her for about forty-five minutes before finally suctioning out a fair bit of blood from her trachea and getting a breathing tube back in her. 

They took some cultures, of which we don't have the results yet, but the early indication is that she suffered a pulmonary hemorrhage in the upper quadrant of her right lung.  The lung also partially collapsed.  So, right now they have her on an Oscillating ventilator.  This is the gentlest of ventilators that basically inflates the lung and literally pulses it hundreds of times per minute.  I am sure she is happy to have her mask off for a bit, to give relief to the pressure on her face and head, but this is a rather serious condition, less common than Owen's bowel perforation. 

The nurses suction her lungs every few hours and are still getting a bit of blood, but not so much as before.  By all accounts, she looks a thousand times better than yesterday, and has had no further collapsing of the lungs, but they will be watching her very closely. 

She looks so beautiful in this picture.  I was nearly overcome with emotion and love for her when we said our goodbyes and left the hospital tonight.  Again, we are extremely fortunate that the nurses were watching her.  Had this occurred when in our care at home, the results would have been tragic.  On the positive side, she is up to 2lbs 1oz now and looking very good.

The boys are doing terrific as well.  Here's a nice pic of Owen a moment after they took off his mask and Si-pap so that they could weigh him:

Owen June 15th, No Mask

His face is a bit smushed from the mask but you'll forgive him for having a rough few weeks.  Just above his diaper, the little red area that looks like it might be his belly button is actually his Stoma (small intestine) that is sitting outside the wound from his surgery.  They let me change his diaper tonight.  I imagine that it was comical watching me trying to wipe his doodle quickly and then pop the diaper over it before he might accidently let the fire hose loose all over me.  I was clumsy at it but I am guessing I will become quite the pro after doing thirty diapers a day between Nikki and I when they finally come home.  Owen is now up to 2lbs 4oz and he is getting 1 cc of breast milk every hour.

Noah is on his last day of antibiotics from his belly issues and we are hoping they start to feed him tomorrow.  Undaunted, the little guy is still putting on weight.  He is up to 2lbs 7.5oz and we couldn't be happier that they are all beginning to grow.  He looks terrific, really filling out.

Signing off for the night.  Thank you everyone, for your support, help, thoughts and prayers and God Bless.