The Return of the Ups and Downs

Trying to keep in mind that we can't get too happy with successes and too down with setbacks is difficult, but it helps when we experience the "roller coaster" of the ICN. Such was our last 24 hours. Colin has made more progress in that he got his OG tube switched to a NG tube (feeding tube down the nose instead of down the mouth). They do this because he'll start breast and bottle feeding more and it's obviously easier for the little guy to do that without a tube in his mouth. With this, Colin also had his first bottle feeding last night! Mommy held him and they worked really well together as a team! Colin got in 6 cc's of breast milk before falling asleep. A success for our little one.
He continues to tolerate his feedings well, and they've now got him back on additional calories to fatten him up. He continues to gain weight - albeit slowly - and he's now at 2 pounds, 7.8 ounces - just shy of 2.5 pounds! Even though he's making progress, his weight is a major reason we received some less-than-stellar news early this morning: his blood labs are starting to come in, and they've discovered that his reticulocyte count is low. This indicates that although he's producing red blood cells on his own, he's just not producing them fast enough - likely due to his diminuitive size. As a result, his hematocrit keeps falling too. This would normally require another blood transfusion. However, it's a fine line: if you transfuse him, his body is tricked into thinking it doesn't need to produce more red blood cells and thus it doesn't. On the other hand, if you don't transfuse him, and he can't keep up, then he can become very anemic. So it's a difficult call. We'll find out more today what the doctors feel is most appropriate.
We're not sure why, but his potassium is low too. They may have to give him a potassium bolus to get his levels up. We don't know much about what, if any, this can mean for Colin but I'm sure we'll learn more in the coming days. Undoubtedly just one of many things we'll continue to learn as we walk through this vast wilderness.