Day 17

Today both Kolton and Karter had to have a blood transfusion, due to not making enough red blood cells, which in turn makes their oxygen rates drop, or desat. We spoke to the doctor about this and she assured us that this is normal for preemies and that they may have to have more than one. I spoke with several of the other moms in the room and all their babies have had more than one transfusion. We of course asked all the questions about the safety of the blood on so on. Once again she assured us it is very safe and the blood is tested and radiated. We were hoping they would not need transfusions, the doctor had discussed this with us once before, however they began desating quite a bit yesterday and last night and blood work showed that they were indeed anemic. They both tolerated the transfusions very well and Karter even began to act like he felt somewhat better and he began to look pinker. For a day or so I had wondered about Karter because he slept almost all the time and unlike his brother only stayed awake for a short time. The doctor said that just like us, when we are anemic, we feel tired and draggy that's what Karter was feeling. Poor little guys, it sure was hard to hear them cry as they got their IV lines put in. I know it hurts because just recently I have had a whole slew of them and they don't feel good, however they only cried for a minute and I managed barley not to cry myself. The nurse said the will do more blood work tomorrow and make sure they don't need more blood, and she also said that they both should be feeling very good by tomorrow. I will be so glad when we are on the other side of this, sometimes it is hard to remain positive, but for my sanity I don't allow myself to play to much of the "what if" game.