Good Days...

On Monday Jackson had 2 scans to evaluate his head bleed, as well as his heart.  We know that he has had a bleed – this scan is used to see if the bleed has continued, or stopped.  The scan for his heart is to check his PDA – something all preemies have done. 

The head ultrasound was able to show that his head bleed was at least not getting worse.  This is very good news!!!  He gave us some information about what to maybe expect in the future.  If after a few more weeks of scans, they show little change, they will wait until 36 weeks (gestational age) to scan again – if there is change, they will continue to monitor him with head ultrasounds.  The doctor also gave us an idea of what we may be facing in the future.  He said Jackson could have very minor to major disabilities. Minor being a small motor skill that he could grow out of or receive therapy for – and the other end of the spectrum is sever disabilities such as Cerebral palsy.   As Jackson gets older, we will be meeting with doctors to evaluate where he is developmentally, and see where he will fall within that spectrum. 

Also, his heart eco came back that his PDA is not open (which is good).  The PDA opening allows for blood to bypass the lungs when he is in the womb.  When full-term babies are born this opening closes to get proper blood circulation within the lungs; it is fairly common that this opening doesn’t close all the way in preemies.  However; as of right now, Jackson’s is completely closed; thus reducing the risk of him needing surgery to close it.  This is also very good news!!!

At 8pm Monday night, Jackson also started to receive milk that Annie had frozen.  The doctors are starting him on very small amounts (2cc every 8 hrs) just to get his digestive system working but nonetheless, this is an important first step in getting Jackson eating steak and eggs.  =)  On Tuesday they determined that he handled the feed very well, and that they will increase his feeding to 3cc every 6 hours.  The doctors will be re-evaluating his feeding schedule today (Wednesday) on rounds.

Tuesday was also a good day for the ventilator.  Most of his settings were decreased and the nurses said that if he continues to have decreased settings, they may be able to switch him back to the other ventilator style after a few days.

Jackson continues to pee; some times it is a lot (relatively) and other times it is very little.  We never thought that having our son pee would make us so incredibly happy!  There is still fluid coming through his drain, but that is to be expected.  As the “hole” in his ureter begins to fix itself, we will be able to take the drain out.  

As you can see in the pictures below, Jackson is a little puffier that in other pictures.  This is because they have him on a high level of fluid intake.  This extra fluid is just filling out his little body a little.  They did this to make sure that he was not dehydrated at all; now that they know he is not, they have begun to lower his intake levels a little so that this puffiness will go away.

Please continue to pray that Jackson has more "good days" at Iowa City.  These days help Jackson become more stable now and once he is on a full feeding schedule they should help him to grow and develop more quickly.  Thank you for all of your continued support and for your prayers; the entire Helland/Terlouw family is very grateful.

 

Also - Arvin continues to do well and he was released from the hospital yesterday.