Since her original discharge, Katharina has been having some vomiting spells and has trouble clearing her airway. I took her to emerge one night in September after she took too long to recover and passed out (so scary!). She had been readmitted to the NICU for four nights at the beginning of October to be monitored to ensure all was okay with her heartrate and oxygen levels if/when these vomits took place – which happen fairly often (every few days).
A similar episode happened on Friday evening while we were visiting Calvin. I’m grateful we had nurses and a resident doctor nearby who observed it and then escorted us to emerge where we were seen right away. They believe it is just a reflux issue but decided to admit her to the paeds floor anyways to be observed. Because she’s a preemie, there is always a concern that something else could be wrong (ie. infection, structural problems, etc.), so they can never be too careful.
Her admittance was a blessing, as she had also been taking lower and lower daily volumes from her bottles and was getting to the point of dehydration becoming a big concern. On Sunday afternoon, they inserted an NG (nasogastric tube) – whatever Katharina doesn’t drink from her bottles can now be topped up through her tube. She won’t be discharged until she can take enough orally (via bottle alone) to be gaining weight. If she is taking too long to increase these volumes, they will discharge her with the NG and teach me how to properly care for it.
It has been exhausting spending my days going between Calvin and Katharina who are in two different areas of the hospital. Pray for Katharina that she would have increased stamina to drink bigger volumes during her feeds and/or we would figure out what she needs to make this happen (ie. different nipple). We are thankful she is otherwise healthy!
The Hughes Family 