Gaining Weight!

Not too much news to report today, but no news is good news!!

The last dose of meds for the PDA was administered last night and as of this morning all of Jacob's vital signs are indicative of the PDA closing. The only not-so-good news is that they still hear a murmur. They believe this may be a VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect), a small hole in the heart which usually closes by the baby's first birthday. If this doesn't close this may require open heart surgery. This has nothing to do with the fact that Jacob was a preemie and we were actually aware of the possible existence of this around 20 weeks at my big ultrasound. We had a fetal echo when I was here at Tufts the week before Jacob was born and the Cardiologist said he no longer saw it. It looks like that was not the case and it is still, in fact, there but it is small enough that the doctor is not concerned and has hope it will close all by itself. There are no meds to treat this condition and if it doesn't close by itself surgery is the only remedy, but as stated previously this does not presently concern the doctor so we are not too worried about it.

Jacob has finally surpassed his birth weight and was weighing in at 1 lb 8 oz today! They said the weight gain could be a result of his calories or the fluid he had in his lungs earlier this week, but they did a chest x-ray again and his lungs were not as hazy as they were the other day and his weight has been 1 lb 8 oz for the past two days so hopefully the weight gain is due to calories! My short-term goal is to see him reach 907 grams or 2 pounds! That will be an exciting day!

They removed the umbilical line they were using to feed Jacob and replaced it with a PICC line (also known as a central IV line) that goes to a blood vessel right next to his heart so this is good news! The IV is less invasive than the umbilical line and there is less chance of an infection so we are hopeful that little Jacob can start his feedings again tonight and start that weight gain we are hoping for.

That is all the news we have for tonight! Next update will probably be over the weekend so stay tuned!