Life at UAMS-Ethan Lee

On top of everything else, Ethan had a rash, too! It's hard to see your baby like this and not be able to comfort him. His little belly was so swollen!
This was late Friday night. It was the first time I was able to touch little Ethan. He was still under minimum stimulation, but the nurse felt that I needed to be able to touch my boy... still brings tears to my eyes!
"Reunited, and it feels so good!" This is Ethan and Grant's twin room in the NICU. Grant's isollete is in the foreground, and Ethan's is in the back.

This is just after Ethan's PICC line was inserted in his leg, allowing the nurses to take one of the lines out of his belly button. The PICC line is similar to an IV, but can be left in longer.

Little Ethan was the "donor twin" (see previuos post for a link explaining TTTS). He worked hard in the womb to support him and his brother. As a result, he has quite a few issues to overcome before he is ready to go home. Being the donor twin made Ethan very anemic and that is probably what is causing all the excess fluid in his abdominal cavity (one of our first hints that something was wrong). Ethan was given a couple of blood transfusions to combat the anemia. He also had a low blood platelet count starting out. I believe it was 18! The normal range for an adult is 150 to 400 and I think it is just slightly less for a newborn. They have given him platelets a few times and are now monitoring his count. Ethan had an echocardiogram and it was found that he may have a small hole in his heart. It also showed that there was a slight problem with his heart septum and his heart is a little enlarged, since he had to work so hard to pump blood for him and Grant. The doctor said that these should all correct themselves over time, though. Ethan has had a breathing tube in and has been sedated since he was born (so there aren't as many pictures of him, being that he's always in the same pose). At first they were drawing some of the fluids off of Ethan's abdomen, but they really need him to "pee it off" so they are now leaving it be, unless he starts getting really uncomfortable. Anyway, Ethan has a lot to overcome, but he is getting better by the day! Yesterday Ethan got to move into the same room as Grant. Grant was moved the day before, when a twin room opened up, but they didn't want to stress Ethan any more that day, so they waited to move him. The NICU rooms here are great! They are all private rooms and they have sleeper sofas for one parent to spend the night (of course, at the rate I'm going I may have a room here as long as they do!)