Nine Days Old

Alex and Emily have started having some breathing troubles. Yesterday they had to be put on 100% oxygen. This morning however, things seemed to settle down. Emily was started on dexamethasone, which should help with her lung development. Alexander however, has been battling a yeast infection, so the doctors want to wait until he gets stronger before starting him on the drug. The news from yesterday’s cultures was good, however. They did a spinal and took some blood from his arm and no yeast showed up in either culture. They also couldn’t find any white blood cells in his cerebral spinal fluid, which also suggests a lack of infection. They also examined his heart and saw no evidence of yeast on his valves. He is still at 92 % oxygen but was taken off of the puffer and placed back on the regular ventilator; his sister was weaned down to 75% oxygen when we left tonight, so it seems that she is doing better on the medication for her lungs. We hope that Alexander’s ultrasound for the brain and kidneys will be clear and he can start the medication tomorrow. Both Jennifer and I noted that he is much more lively now than he was yesterday. Since an infection in the blood tends to make babies very lethargic, this tells us, in our naive opinion, that he is improving. I’m posting pictures of the babies taken today. Jennifer took a wonderful picture of Alex with both of his eyes open. I took a picture of Emily with her eyes closed. One of them is already opened, and she’s working on eye number two.

Tony