Robyn.Bowles.es

“First the better news:

He’s been progressing fast with the food. He’s eating now 40ml a feeding n seems to be digesting well. The goal is to get him to eat the normal amount for his age and weight to get the iv off. The doctor warned us though that these babies tend to have their suction reflex inhibited and that it takes time and patience to get it to work again. The most important thing is that he digests but he also need the suction reflex to come back to be able to breastfeed or bottlefeed. He assured us he’s gonna get his best nurses to work with him on this. Also once he’s off IV then they’ll move him to an open crib which will allow for more stimulation. He has actually gained 150grms in the last 4-5 days which is also great.
Now the not so good: The detailed study of the MRI showed a diffused density issue in the images. This means there is some small and diffused physical damage to his brain. As it is “diffused” it means it’s not affecting any particular area strongly which makes it impossible to tell how he could be affected. If the problem was concentrated on a certain area they could say they baby might have problems with speech, or walking etc. But being diffused and the Doctor being very prudent with his words there’s not much he can tell us except that in his experience this kind of baby will get as far or as well as each baby gets. If he was an adult it’d be a different issue but being a baby it’s hard. The head neurologist is also gonna be working with the baby to get him on a early stimulation program. The key is to continue to stimulate him so that his muscle tone comes back, reflexes which are not working properly come back (ie: suction, blinking) etc. Stimulation is the key to his brain overcoming this current problem and healing, and that’s why they’ve started him on physical therapy. Once again lots of prayer, lots of faith, and lots of patience. It’s taking him time to get to breaking points, but once he gets there he speeds up to normal in no time with his breathing (2 1/2 wks intubated – only 2 days on nasal oxygen), his eating (2 weeks at 5ml, then in 2 days his gone from 15 to 40ml) etc etc. Though the news came down pretty hard I am confident that the baby will be a completely normal baby with the help of God. We’ve already gone so far!!!”

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