Brain Scan Results are In.

In the NICU world of peaks and valley's....today was a valley............that turned into a peak.

We were informed yesterday that the brain ultrasound was rescheduled for this morning instead of yesterday. AHHHHH! NOOOOOOO! WHHYYYYYY!

This morning we showed up at the hospital bright and early to be there for her "early" morning scan. We sat there for hours. As we waited, the nurse practitioner came to us and informed us of the new developments.

Her most recent hematocrit level had dropped "significantly". It had dropped from a 39 to a 29 in a 24 hour window. This is a substantial decline. She said it could be a result of a faulty or diluted blood draw, or there truly is something going on that is concerning. Basically a 10 point drop could indicate what we have been dreading. A major bleed on her brain. This news sent us into a tail spin.

Her heart rate was also elevated in comparison to the baseline that she has set over the past week. This further exaggerated the emotional tail spin we were experiencing.

My emotions got the best of me today. I felt hopeless. I felt angry. I felt defeated. How do parents survive this? I seriously want to know.

I had already convinced myself that the results of the brain ultrasound were going to show a bleed on the brain.

They decided to repeat the blood draw and re-run the hematocrit test. This time the results were a little better. It had dropped from a 39 to a 33 (instead of 29). At this point, they felt it best to start her on her second blood transfusion. Her body being low on red blood cells results in a lower level of oxygen that is in her blood. The oxygen that her growing and immature organs desperately need right now.

FINALLY at 2 PM the ultrasound technicians made their way into our room. They performed the ultrasound and said the results would then be sent to the radiologist to analyze. The radiologist would then contact the neonatologist with the reading. But because the scan was completed so late in the day, we may not get the results until the following morning. Queue another tail spin.

Luck was on our side and 2 hours later the results were in. To my utter amazement and complete sense of gratitude and relief, the results were good. Mostly good. There was no bleeding on the left side of her brain and there was maybe a potential small bleed on the right side of her brain, but it was small enough that the radiologist couldn't confidently that it is actually a bleed.  As far as results go.... they are as good as they could be without being completely clean. When I think of it in relation to a scale of 1 to 10, the results would be a 9 (with the potential of being a 10).

Today was a hard day. For Dalley and her parents. She had to have 2 chest x-rays to fix the placement of her PICC line, a blood transfusion, an IV placed in her head and her brain ultrasound.

I was a wreck. Visibly so because they sent a social worker in to talk to me to see if I need medication or therapy. (I probably need both).

But we've made it a week. She is 1 week old today. She is a 25 weeks old baby... and a 1 week old baby. Wrap your head around that one!

She is still fighting like crazy and it still breaks our heart to see her having to fight so hard.

We could't do this without all of your prayers and love and support.

I'm sure you've got other people on your minds and prayer lists, but we still wouldn't mind a few being sent up on our behalf.

-Love Adam, Lacey and Dalley