Clara Judith Sherwood

Well it is Good news with some “not so good news” with Clara the past few days. Clara has been out of the isollete and in a crib for a couple days now and seems to be able to maintain her body temperature. Krystal and I feel this is a major hurdle cleared and the crib adds a sense of normalcy and reality to the situation. We may be bringing her home soon. She is over 4lbs and is starting to take the bottles with minimal effects. She has taken 3 bottles at 35 cc today then other five feeds are done by feeding tube. Once she takes to 8 bottles per day I think we are home free. So I will at least post the “DBC” Daily Bottle Count for everyone each day.
Now for the not so good news, Clara has been diagnosis with BPD Bronchial Pulmonary Displacia. Clara’s lungs were damaged at birth and/or by the ventilator. She now has scare tissue in her lungs and this damaged tissue does not oxygenate the blood, so she has reach a size where it is very stressful for her to supply her body with oxygenated blood. Over the next few years she will add new lung tissue and this will lessen the effects of the scare tissue. So to help her, the medical staff has turned up the supplied oxygen to 100% at a pressure of .1 liters per minute. This treatment reduces the energy needed and stress Clara was facing with her breathing. Now she will now have the reserves to feed by bottle and continue to grow and add new lung tissue.