Beckett on the Brain

Of course our little boy has been on our mind a lot lately, but especially today after the news Dr. Grubbs shared with us this morning. First we found out that they upped his feeds to 6 mL. He has had minimal residuals left in his tummy after feedings, and they have not been brown or green. So he is doing awesome at eating! Good work Beckett!

Unfortunately not all the news was good news. The results of the head ultrasound came back. The doctors have detected some bleeding in his brain. There are two pockets of fluid called ventricles inside each half of the brain. Surrounding each ventricle is a matrix of blood vessels.  In premature babies these blood vessels tend to bleed into the ventricles. This bleeding is categorized into four grades. A grade one bleed has minimal bleeding in the ventricles. A grade two bleed has more bleeding in the ventricles. A grade three bleed has enough bleeding to cause the ventricles to swell. A grade four bleed means that the bleeding has reached the brain tissue, which does not necessarily mean the ventricles are enlarged.

Beckett has some bleeding on both halves of his brain. On the left half, the bleeding has not even reached the ventricles, so it is too minor to even be graded. This is of little concern. On the left half of his brain Beckett has a grade two bleed. This gives him a slightly increased risk of impaired neuro-muscular development. Ellie had a grade one bleed in her brain which comes with no increased risk. Dr. Grubbs assured us that babies with grade three and four bleeds have the most increased risk of impaired development. He said that a grade two bleed is not devastating. From a distanced, objective viewpoint he is surely correct. Of course my view is first hand and subjective. I'm not saying I think this is devastating news. I don't. I certainly think that God is fully capable of handling this one. And I know there's little I can do other than interact with Beckett in ways that encourage neuro-muscular development. (Which was already part of the plan the coming years.) Still this news is hard to hear.

We knew that he would have good days and bad days. And from where Beckett sits ... well okay he doesn't sit up yet. From where Beckett lies he is having a good day. Dr. Grubbs said that all the bleeding occurs in the first 3-5 days. They wait a week to do the ultrasound to make sure they will see all the bleeding. What's done is done. The bleeding has likely stopped by now. It's just that we didn't know about it until today.

So what's going on in his little body today? He is gaining weight and making real progress on digesting food. Dr. Grubbs sees no signs of NEC. He continues to breathe well with his oxygen at a very low mixture (22% - 25%). All of this awesomeness is coming just days after his brain bleed stopped. Good work Beckett, way to bounce back! That deserves a sticker!