Day 26 - Hearts and murmurs
TRUE to form, Millie lost eight grammes today.After two days of gaining lots of weight, she decided to have a bit of a rest and today lost eight grammes.
She now weighs 1.564kg.
Part of the reason for her weight loss is a reduction in Millie's feed from 32ml every three hours to 29ml every three hours.
The doctors stepped down her feed after discovering she had a heart murmur - which is an abnormal sound through the stethoscope.
Up to one in three babies at some stage have a murmur. Many are 'innocent' rather than a sign that something is seriously wrong.
The doctors believe Millie's murmur is Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) - a condition when one of the blood vessels fails to close properly.
They are not worried, saying she would "look blueish" if something was wrong.Daddy thinks you don't really have to be a doctor to give a diagnosis like that.
But apparently PDA is very common in premature babies.
Older viewers can read more about it by clicking here. Younger viewers (and those who like to think of themselves as young) can click here.
Often, the blood vessel closes of its own accord and the murmur stops.
When the doctor visited Millie later today, her murmur couldn't be heard any more.
By this evening, her feed had been increased to 34ml every three hours (an extra teaspoonful) and Millie was looking perky as usual.
But she will still have an electrocardiogram (ECG), just to make sure everything is in order.
posted by Johann @ 10:32 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home