Not a good day for Kayla...

Today was a rough day for Kayla (and me and Kiko)...it all began at 3 am when the hospital called. They were calling to let us know that Kayla was having several severe apnea episodes and she had blood in her stool. They needed to run an infection workup which included blood tests, xrays and a lumbar puncture (spinal tap). My heart was racing thinking about my little angel having to go through the pain of a spinal tap. Needless to say we didn't sleep much after that and raced up to the hospital as soon as they allowed visitors again. Once we got there, we found Kayla had been moved out of her incubator and had several IV's coming out of both arms and was on an oxygen canula to help her breathe. She was looking very pale and having trouble breathing.

The Dr came by and let us know that Kayla has Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/digestive/nec.html. Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is primarily seen in premature infants, where portions of the bowel undergo necrosis (tissue death). There is no real known cause for NEC. She is on antibiotics to try and fix the problem, but there is no guarantee that it will work (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't). Her feedings have been stopped to allow her intestines time to heal and get everything out and she will not be allowed to start eating again for at least 10 days. She is receiving nutrition via IV in the meantime. She will have multiple xrays and blood tests over the next few days to see if the antibiotics are working...if they are not and the condition worsens, she can develop a hole or tear in her intestines at which point she will need to have surgery to remove the affected portions. She is so sick and it just breaks my heart to see her like this again...and the thought of another surgery for my little girl is too much to even think about. This also is a set back of at least a couple of weeks for her. We will keep you posted as things progress, but please keep her in your prayers that she is able to fight this latest problem. As much as it pains me to see her like this, here is Kayla from today...she looks kind of puffy :(.

Kamryn is doing ok today. She is still struggling with her bottle feedings but she did better today than she did yesterday. They have decided to place her on supplemental oxygen during her feeds to help her remember to breathe...they will try that during tomorrow mornings feeding. Here's Kamryn showing her dad what she thinks of all the pictures he keeps taking.

Here is a picture of our little area of the NICU. Kayla is in the open/heated bed and I'm holding Kamryn in front of her incubator.