After you got over the "ooooohhh, how cute and tiny" reaction (which does take a while), you may have noticed how banged up her skin is. Preemie skin is very sensitive, and all the cords and monitors tend to be harsh on it. The overall sensitive nature of preemies makes it so that they don't like any type of touch. If Paige gets handled too much by her nurse, she can get so agitated that she'll stop breathing. On the day of writing this, neither Andrea nor I have held either girl because it would be very irritating to them.
Sorry for the digression. On Day 4, both girls had head ultrasounds in order to detect any type of brain bleed. Just to remind everyone, Aubrey had a lung bleed on Day 2, which puts her at an increased risk of having a brain bleed. For Paige, the ultrasound showed no signs of bleeding. For Aubrey, the ultrasound showed a large amount of fluid measuring 8 mm in her subdural space, which is the space between the brain and the skull. She also had a grade 1 bleed in her brain. No one was worried about the grade 1 bleed, but the subdural fluid was more concerning.
A neurosurgeon came to the NICU and spoke with Andrea and I about the subdural fluid. He said that until a CT scan was done, he would not be able to tell if the fluid was blood or water. However, he believed that the fluid was not something that had happened in the past week, which he said was good. The neurosurgeon explained that one of three things would happen with the fluid. (1) It would go away on its own, which he sees happen in about half of cases like this; (2) It would not go away, but would be fairly simple and require only a few drain tubes in Aubrey's head; (3) It would not go away, and would require partial removal of the skull to drain. Naturally, everyone hoped for outcome #1. The neurosurgeon told us that the more invasive procedures typically correlate with increasing amounts of brain damage.
My aunt and uncle that live a couple hours away drove down to see us in the afternoon. Our Bishop, who is our local church leader and is comparable to a Pastor or Priest, came to see Andrea and I also. My Bishop, uncle, and I gave both girls a name and a blessing. For those not familiar with this, it's basically our faith's way of spiritually and publicly welcoming a baby into the world. It is usually done at church in front of the entire congregation, but given the circumstances, our Bishop felt it would be appropriate to do it in the NICU with just the six of us present. It was one of the sweetest experiences that Andrea and I have ever had.
My aunt and uncle that live a couple hours away drove down to see us in the afternoon. Our Bishop, who is our local church leader and is comparable to a Pastor or Priest, came to see Andrea and I also. My Bishop, uncle, and I gave both girls a name and a blessing. For those not familiar with this, it's basically our faith's way of spiritually and publicly welcoming a baby into the world. It is usually done at church in front of the entire congregation, but given the circumstances, our Bishop felt it would be appropriate to do it in the NICU with just the six of us present. It was one of the sweetest experiences that Andrea and I have ever had.
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