In the last post, I mostly updated about Leah and it got late so I didn't get to what has happened with Ralanda. Everything that happened with delivery of the baby and the second surgery afterwards was discussed in the very first blog post. After receiving many blood transfusions Ralanda slowly began her recovery and was discharged from the hosptal on July 7th. For the next 10 days we all tried our best to keep Mommy from doing too much and get her to rest and recover. Daddy and Mommy continued making daily trips to Albany (1 hour each way) to visit Leah in the NICU. Ralanda's mom and dad had come up the day Leah was born (July 3rd) and Ralanda's mom had stayed and helped us so greatly and was due to go back home tomorrow. That was all the plan until this past Sunday. Ralanda became very tired and sleepy and did nothing but sleep all day Sunday. Scott was concerned as she was very weak and pale and would complain from time to time of having the chills. Finally, with no change by Monday, Ralanda finally consented to going back to the hospital and getting checked out. We returned to Albany Medical Center and Ralanda wound up being readmitted due to lethargy, chills and fever. The doctors suspected a hematoma (collection of blood) had been infected, or an abscess had developed. A CT scan was performed Monday evening and confirmed that a collection of fluid was present (hematoma or abscess). She was started on IV fluids and 2 different IV antibiotics. There was talk of needing to perform surgical drainage of the fluid if the fever did not respond. So far the fever has responded to the antibiotics and for now the doctors are talking of avoiding surgical drainage. They are hopeful that if the antibiotics continue to work that the fluid will be resorbed, thus avoiding another surgical procedure. Today the last of the IV antibiotics were given and Ralanda has been switched to oral antibiotics. We are praying that this infection will resolve and not recur. At this point, Ralanda has gotten a good amount of her energy back and is feeling much better. The current plans are for her to be discharged from the hospital (again) tomorrow. Because of all of this, Ralanda's mom is staying another week, and we are so thankful.
Leah was taken off of supplemental oxygen 2 days ago and today started to develop quite rapid breathing. We asked to be notified when the doctors would be rounding today so we could hear their assessment and plan for Leah. The doctor said that "sometimes we push these little ones a little to quickly as we are excited that they are doing so well". She said that sometimes it will take a day or two before they tell us "whoa, not so fast". Well, it appears that Leah was not quite ready to give up her oxygen supplementation yet. They put her back on the oxygen this afternoon and she is breathing much better again. There's not really much concern over this - it just means she needs weaned off of the oxygen a little slower.
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