Morgan Kate

Morgan Kate is doing well, but her oxygen continues to be a concern. There are three things to be aware of when thinking about oxygen:

1. Flow - This is the amount of flow coming through the nasal cannula and is measured in liters. Morgan Kate started on 5 liters of flow and has since been reduced to 3 liters. Today she has to go back up today to 4 liters.

2. Percent of oxygen - This is the percent of oxygen being given. It  can range anywhere from 22% -100% - remember room air is 21%.  Morgan Kate started off anywhere from 22% - 30%, however in the last few days she has gone anywhere from 30%-45% and even up to 50% today (highest she has been)

3. Oxygen saturation - This is a percentage that is monitored with a pulse oximeter or "pulse ox". This is a tiny band wrapped around her foot, it measures the amount of oxygen in her blood and then sends the numbers to the monitor. They like for this number to be between 85 and 95 (based on her age).  When it's too high or too low the alarms go off  and when her numbers drop we call it oxygen desaturation or "desatting".

Morgan Kate began on 5 liters of oxygen, stayed around 22 - 30% and was "swinging" (meaning she would go high and low). With time, she was reduced to 3 liters, stayed around 30% and stayed in the 85-95 range. For the past few days, she has been needing more oxygen because she keeps "desatting", therefore, her percent of oxygen has been anywhere from 35% - 45% and up to 50% today. So,they have increased the flow to 4 liters and she is still around 35 - 40% of oxygen. The nurse listened to her lungs today and said they sounded a little "wet". Sometimes babies are given diuretics to help pull out the excess "wetness" and then they pee it out. However, Morgan Kate's weight had been a concern at one time and they don't want her to lose weight on the diuretic, so they have increased the flow to help. 

Sorry for all the information, probably more than you ever wanted to know. For those of you who are very technical I know you will love all the info, for everyone else - Just please continue to pray that Morgan Kate's oxygen needs will get better and the "wetness" they heard will disappear.

Other than her oxygen concerns she is doing very well. She and Travis got to "roo" for almost two hours today and she did really well. Toward the end of the "roo" session her oxygen even looked great! She weighed in tonight at 2 pounds and 14 ounces. She did not gain any weight, but we were still thrilled. She gained two ounces the night before and she has been VERY regular ever since, if you know what I mean. We are praying for 2.15 tomorrow night.

They did not do Morgan Kate's eye exam today. She is still considered to be really young and they will wait a little while before doing it.

Mom(Heather) and Dad(Trav) are holding up pretty well. We are so in love with this amazing little girl, but so very worried, especially me. I worry about everything! We both just want her home so badly and we want her to get better. It's so difficult to see her lying there and not be able to help her. It's frustrating and overwhelming at times, but I know we will get through it. I had my 6 week check-up today and everything went well. Dr. Salley wanted to talk about what we would do "next time" and I told him I didn't know if there was going to be a next time - I know too much now and I am way too scared. He told me that with a little bit of time I would most likely change my mind and when I did he had a plan. Next time he would use a cerclage to keep my cervix shut. This is something they would do at about 12-13 weeks and it would hopefully help us avoid what happened this time. We will see...