Alicia's Bad Day

Alicia decided to give us a little scare this morning. The doctor called around 8:30am. Right away I wondered what was up, because the doctor usually calls in the afternoon...they round on the ones who need the most attention first; lately Alicia has been a star patient and doesn't get her check-up until late in the day.

The doctor said Alicia was pale and lethargic, and her spells had been getting worse. This morning at eight she had her worst spell yet. Her hematocrit (red blood cells, sort of) was low, and they were worried about the possibility that she might have an infection. This was incredibly hard to hear, of course. They told us this wasn't a life-threatening thing at this point, just an obstacle she'd have to fight through, but it's scary and disheartening when we'd thought things were going so well.

They started her on antibiotics right away and gave her a blood transfusion. They also stopped feeding her; if it is an infection she doesn't need the extra work of digesting while she fights it.

By the time we got to the hospital she was already looking much better. On the CPAP at 30% oxygen, she was breathing without seeming to work too hard. Her color was much better after the tranfusion started, and she didn't have any spells while we were there. Whatever it was, they jumped on it right away and are doing really well at helping her through it. She's going to get better.

So probably no holding her for a couple days, and she probably won't be gaining much weight until she gets back on Mama's milk, but we're readying our sighs of relief and our thanks for your prayers. We've been keeping a large stock of both.

Speaking of milk, Michelle wants me to ask you something else. She's pumping, of course, and it's far more than Alicia needs at this point. She needs to be pumping lots so that she'll be making enough once Alicia does start breastfeeding, but for now we have a deep freeze full of good, nutritious breast milk and no one seems to want it. There's no milk bank in Minnesota, and the ones in Denver and Indiana won't take it because she was on Lovonox for six weeks (which, by the way, cannot be absorbed orally). So if you happen to know of a baby who isn't getting breast milk for any reason (adopted, medical problems) and you think we might be able to help, let us know. It will stay good in the deep freeze for up to a year.