Mackenzie's kidneys have finally kicked in and are starting to function normally. Her electrolytes, sodium, and a few other labs are all back to normal. There is a particular test that they are watching that shows the kidneys were damaged has finally started to decrease meaning that her kidneys are healing. With her labs showing such vast improvement they were able to remove the umbilical IV line so that her belly button can heal.
She is being weened off of oxygen slowly. She spends a few hours without it and then gets a smaller rate of flow once she needs the help again.
She began getting formula feedings yesterday at 4 cc's every 3 hours and that has continued. This morning they doubled her dose and allowed her to be fed by bottle. WE FINALLY GOT TO HOLD HER. Lauren was able to feed her the tiny bottle and hold her for a while this morning. As the day continued, her feedings continued to go well, so the docs had her feeding tube removed.
The big news of the day were the results of her brain scans. The MRI was completed last evening and the results although not what we hoped for, were what everyone was expecting. The scan showed that MJ did suffer a brain injury as a result of the blood loss and lack of oxygen pre and during delivery. The good news is that the injury locations are all far away from the brain stem and cerebral cortex. They are in parts of the brain that don't fully develop and activate until 2-3 months into life. The neurologist said that the miraculous thing about babies is that they are able to survive and recover from injuries that would be catastrophic to an adult or even an older child. His hope is that as MJ's brain develops it should compensate and wire itself to avoid any injured areas. He can't offer too certain of a prognosis. He expects that if there are any developmental problems that they will hopefully be minor. We will continue to get MRI's completed periodically to monitor those damaged areas to make sure they improve or at least do not increase in size.
Her results show that she did suffer a seizure during delivery which is where the damage came from. As a precaution they have had her on an anti-seizure medication that she will continue to be on for at least the next six months as we monitor her progress and development.
The EEG results will be discussed tomorrow, it should give us a better idea if MJ is still at risk for future seizures and help the docs finalize a plan for the short term and look at options for the long term.
All in all, we have so many blessing and things to be thankful for. We, again, cannot thank everyone enough for their thoughts, prayers, and good will. We will continue to update everyone as we learn more about our little girl's future.
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