April 14 Post

Hello everyone,

Carter had one of the three tests planned for him today, one was postponed and one was moved to tomorrow...it was a busy day in the NICU.

• They chose to cancel the swallow test for today since it wouldn't be fair to him since he has rapid breathing, 45% oxygen at a 5 liter rate. They don't test other newborns with a swallow test at those levels. They will reassess the swallow test at a later time.

• The echocardiogram will likely be done tomorrow. They are just checking the progress of his heart's PDA valve to make sure it is still closing.
  

• Carter did have the dye test into his upper GI and the results were he was having some reflux issues which was might be causing some of the rapid breathing. They replaced his feeding tube from his stomach to his duodenum (the part after the stomach for us non-doctor people) and prescribed some anti-reflux medicine. This also means he has to have continual feeding so he receives 50cc of milk every 3 hours on a continuous basis (rather than a typical feeding every three hours.)

The goal is to get his breathing rate down to around 60 per minute. He seems calmer and the reflux medicine will take a couple days for it full benefit. They believe this step will help him slow his breathing down. After visiting him today, he seems a little calmer and his breath rate didn't seem to go into the 100s as often as it has in the past so maybe the docs are on to something good.

Kristi went up tonight to give him a sponge bath and she says Carter does NOT like them at all. I've attached a couple pictures from today including open eyes and one where he got a little mad (probably was told the swallow test was being postponed.) :)

Thank you for your continued prayers and thoughts.

Love,
Alan & Kristi