Tuesday, September 9, 2008

The Verdict Is. . .

The doctors have decided for now that Henry's drops in heart rate and breathing are due to his prematurity. His hemoglobin is a bit low, but not low enough to make the doctors think that this is what is causing his problems. For now, they have decided to put him on a medicine that acts like caffeine to stimulate his breathing and heart rate. So, my baby is gestationally 31 weeks along now and already he's an espresso junkie.

I'm inexplicably pleased with this diagnosis. Because I knew that this might happen, it seems less frightening. It also means that Henry will get poked one less time than he would if this were a problem requiring a blood transfusion. Peter is still looking into donating some blood so that it will be available if Henry does require it. It won't go to waste in any event.

I'm hoping that in a few days he'll be off of the oxygen and back on track. He'll be 32 weeks on Thursday and I'm hoping that he'll continue improving and that he'll be on track to coming home. You know--in another month and a half.

4 comments:

Angoraknitter said...

I'm glad to hear. I promise you the donated blood will not go to waste. It's a good idea :)

but I'm glad to see he hopefully won't need it. It's always scary, but usually helpful when folks really get low H&H levels. It helps to put the color back in them, that's for sure.

Anonymous said...

yay for good news!!

pretendingsanity said...

good news. we're still praying for the little man.

Jennie C. said...

Sarah, will you email me your address? The children have something they want to send for baby Henry.