Well, it's been an eventful couple of days. The girls had been sailing along, and then on Friday the hospital received the results to Alexa's blood screen done in Grand Rapids and, after running a few more tests, discovered that she has hypothyroidism. Apparently this is pretty rare for an infant and can affect her body temperature, oxygen levels, brain development, and metabolism/GI function among other things. As a result, they started her on medication immediately. We're not sure at this point if this will be something she will have to take for the rest of her life or if it will eventually resolve itself over time. She was also placed back on oxygen temporarily as her oxygen levels had been somewhat low on and off for a while, and yesterday they started her on some caffeine (yes, caffeine!) to help with her breathing.
Her doctor wants us to take her back to Grand Rapids after she is released from the hospital to consult with a pediatric endocrinologist regarding further care. So I guess we'll be making one more trip back to GR soon! Interestingly enough, Delaney does not seem to have any thyroid issues, despite sharing the same genetic make-up as Alexa so we're not sure if that means that it's not genetic or what.
On a more positive note, both girls had their feeding tubes removed today and have started taking bottles for every feeding! So far they have been doing great with it! They have been polishing off their bottles within minutes (even when the nurses slip them extras), and have been looking for more so the doctor agreed to increase their feedings to 40 mls. The girls are also getting closer to 4 pounds so they have started turning down the heat in their isolets, which the girls have done well with so far. The nurses seem to think that they may be able to move to an open bed before long! All good things!! Praise God!
this is such a sweet picture of the girls! So great that they were able to be moved to Petoskey!
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