Quick Update

I haven't made it to the NICU yet due to car problems. I am working on getting my car battery replaced.

Good News:

They found the source of Savannah's of struggles. She has a moderate PDA. They are started the Indomethacin. It will be 3 doses of Indomethacin administered every 12 hours. She cannot eat while she is on the medicine. Please pray it will take only one round of medicine to close the PDA.

Also pray for me. I felt guilty for not being a better advocate. The doctor on monday said she would order an echo. The doctor on tuesday (not a fan of his bedside manner) said he did not think the echo was necessary. I asked him how can you rule out a PDA without an echo. He just said it was not required because all signs pointed to her lungs. I wish I had pushed for the echo so she would have gotten the help she needed sooner. I will be removing that doctor from her care once I get to the NICU- if I can.

Another echo will be done on Saturday so please pray for healing. Here is a reminder of what a PDA is.

• What is a PDA? Well many preemies often face an issue with their Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA).

The PDA is a blood vessel that connects the main vessel leading to the lungs to the main vessel of the body. When babies are in the womb, this blood vessel is open because babies aren't using their lungs to breathe so it allows most of the blood to bypass the lungs and go to the rest of the body. Once babies are born, the blood vessel will gradually narrow and then close after a few hours or days. In preemies, especially those who have had respiratory distress syndrome, the blood vessel may stay open.

Doctors may suspect that a preemie has a PDA if a preemie:

• needs more oxygen or help breathing when s/he should be needing less
• his/her breathing is more difficult or there is much more apnea
• the doctor or nurse hears a murmur (an abnormal noise over the heart)
• the baby's heart rate increases and/or the pulse changes

If a doctor suspects a PDA, they will give your preemie an echocardiogram to determine the amount of blood flow through the PDA. The echocardiagram is pretty fast - it looks like your baby is getting an ultrasound.

The doctors have several options for how to treat a PDA. They are:

• Wait. If the PDA is very small with only a tiny amount of blood flowing through it, doctors may decide to wait and see if it closes on its own.
• Medicine. Indomethacin is the most common drug used to try and close a PDA. It can affect some of your preemie's other organs so they use the smallest dose possible. Some doctors use ibuprofen.
• Surgery. If the PDA doesn't close with medicine (or on its own), then they will need to do surgery to close the PDA. (this information is compliments of thiswebsite.http://preemieparenting.blogspot.com/2008/05/closing-pda.html

Pictures of Savannah to come later.