Two steps forward and one step back

Thomas has been a bit grizzly for a couple of days and his Heomoglobin count was a bit low so last night the doctors gave him a little blood transfusion. Of course what we are learning is that they manage to sort out one problem only to get another. This morning, Thomas' oxygen saturation levels were going up and down so it was decided that the blood tranfusion had given him too much fluid and with the valve being open between his heart and lungs, some of it was ending up in his lungs.

Grandparents need not worry too much as he was given something around lunchtime today that encourages him to fill his nappy lots and get rid of that excessive liquid and we can assure you he did just that!!

This morning we also had a chat with one of the consultants about Thomas' bleed on the brain that he had when he was two days old. It was a little scary and quite complicated to understand but will endeavour to explain...basically, the brain has two ventricals which help drain liquid from the brain into the spinal cord. When Thomas was born some of the blood vessels around the right ventrical ruptured and blood escaped into the ventrical and some of the brain tissue around it. At the moment, Thomas' brain has some swelling around this area and the brain tissue that was affected is no longer usable. The doctors are going to keep a close eye on him for the next few weeks to make sure that the blood doesn't clot and block the drainage system from the ventrical and also that the swelling doesn't increase. The consultant said that she hadn't seen this complication from a brain bleed for quite some time so we're keeping a positive attitude especially as Thomas doesn't seem to be showing any sign of discomfort and so far there has not been any affect on movement (as he doesn't stop) but we will keep you posted.

This evening Thomas seemed so much better and we managed to snap this picture of him attempting to suckle on a dummy which is all good practice for when he can suckle on the real things!!