Well, I promised to post another update whenever something significant occurred. Today, we received very exciting news about Greysons health, but first some context... Premature babies are susceptible to developing brain bleeds, since some of the blood vessels used in fetal development do not have a chance to fully close before the baby arrives, unlike a full-term baby. These bleeds can be mild to severe, and can greatly increase a babys risk of developing long-term neurological issues later in life. An ultrasound is done at 7-days old to check for this condition, unless the baby exhibits signs that a bleed might be present, in which case a scan is ordered right away. If found, bleeds are assigned a grade from 1-4. Grades 1 & 2 have not been shown to increase a babys likelihood of developing a neurological disorder when compared to a baby without a brain bleed, and thus are not considered to be clinically significant. Grades 3 & 4 do not guarantee a baby will have neurological issues, but the chances are much higher due to prolonged increased pressure on the brain. Last week, Greyson had a spinal tap done in an effort to locate the source of an infection (as noted from an elevated white blood cell count) hes had since birth. The spinal fluid was pink with blood, and was consistent color throughout, which seemed to indicate he had a brain bleed as opposed just a nick from the spinal tap that would have tinged the first vial, but not all the vials that were pulled consistently. The doctor immediately ordered the ultrasound to check for the bleed, but due to the late time of day, the test would not be done until the morning. That was probably our most difficult night yet, and anxiety was high. The next day after the ultrasound, the doctor called and said that he had looked at the results and did not see a bleed, but he wanted to give it to a special pediatric radiologist to be sure. We were so relieved, probably more than we should have been, but shed a few tears at the good news. But later in the day, the doctor stopped by our room to let us know that the ped radiologist suspected a grade 2 bleed, and so another ultrasound had been ordered for Thursday (today) to confirm and evaluate. You remember that a grade 1 or 2 are not considered to increase risk at all, so it was still good news, but we definitely preferred the news of no bleed instead. So, while we felt that things would be OK with Greyson either way, weve been in great anticipation of todays scan. They did the ultrasound in the morning, but we didnt hear from the doctor until about 4pm. He came into the room to meet with us, and I was kangarooing Greyson in my shirt at the time. This made me a little nervous as to how I would react with him up against me if it ended up being bad news... But fortunately, it was quite the opposite.... After reviewing the scans with the pediatric radiologist, they confirmed that there had been a grade 2 bleed at birth, but that it was already gone, and Baby Greyson is bleed-free i.e. perfectly normal! I asked about likelihood of reoccurrence, and while he refuses to say never, the doctor said another major complication like clotting would have to occur for us to have this issue again, so very unlikely. He also said its unusual for a bleed to clear this quickly, but Ive stopped being surprised by how fast Greyson does things, with a little boost from God here and there. :) Since Im already posting an update, Ill also share that Greyson has graduated to full feeds today, which basically means he is being given a full meal based on his weight, and continues to tolerate them normally without any issues. As a result, he is now 1 oz above his birth weight, which means he has gained 6 ounces in the past 3 days or so. We also moved rooms again, probably for good now. Between Tiffanys stay and now with Greyson, Tiffany and I have stayed in 8 different hospital rooms since all of this started 2 weeks ago tonight. Greysons new room is larger and on the newest unit, with his favorite nurse Heidi, so I think hell be happy there. Hes really starting to vocalize a lot, and he loves his pacifier. Its hard for us to remember that hes a high-risk baby who came way too early, because he has so much personality. Really looking forward to getting him home.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 02:15:00 +0000
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