Karissa holding Anthony for the first time
Sweet Anthony is in desperate need of prayers. Yesterday was a tough day. The doctor heard a heart murmur so they ordered an ultrasound of his heart. They found that his PDA (the hole that babies have in their heart while they're in the womb and usually closes soon after birth) was still open. Normally they can give them a medicine like ibuprofen to help it close. However, while they were doing the ultrasound on his heart they also did the ultrasound on his head. He has a grade 2 brain bleed on the right side (grade 1 or 2 are not as concerning and a lot of times resolve themselves) and he has a grade 4 bleed on the left side (this is the highest grade and is very concerning. It is less likely to resolve itself, though it can, and can have serious long-term effects like seizures, cerebral palsy, physical and mental delays). There isn't much they can do for the brain bleed. If he starts getting too much fluid in his brain they may have to put a shunt in. Otherwise, it's just wait and see. We may not know for years how this could affect him. Because of the brain bleed they can't give him the medicine for his heart, so we'll wait a couple of weeks and see if the PDA closes on it's own. If not, he will need to have surgery to have that closed. They will do the brain scan again on Friday to see how things look and Aryanna will have her first brain scan that day as well. Please pray for miracles for both of them. Anthony has also been very restless so please pray for peace and comfort for him. Please pray for peace and comfort for Jose and I as well as we walk through this NICU journey. There will be lots of highs and lots of lows with their fragile little lives. On a positive note, we got to give them their first sponge baths last night and I got to hold Anthony for the first time and Jose got to hold Aryanna for the first time.
Thanks for walking through this journey with us,
