Day 7 brain ultrasound

daphne814

So, my little fighter is one week old today!  They are going to do a scan of his brain to check for bleeding.  Any advice/helpful info you guys have on this?  They said they should have the results back by the time I go in for my visit at around noon.  I'm hoping for the best since the NP told me yesterday that it's a really good sign that his hemoglobin levels didn't drop right after he was born, and he hasn't needed a transfusion yet.  Fingers crossed for no bleeding!

snoangel79

Even though my twins were born at 34w we had a brain scan for Allison due to severe IUGR. She just had her 1 month follow-up one and everything was good!!  It's just an U/S they put a little gel on your babies head and take pictures. Results should be back very quickly! I hope his scan goes well!!

kaylaaimee

They will do these periodically during your stay, I believe they checked Scarlette every week for the first month, then every two weeks until week 10. It is not uncommon for micro-preemies to have them so they check often but small amounts of bleeding are often not a cause for concern. Scarlette was also born at exactly 25 weeks and never had a brain bleed. Her roommate did, but his wasn't very bad at all.

 Thinking of you! I remember being really nervous about it too, hoping for no bleeds

njdcgirl

Hope all goes well today and that there is no evidence of any bleeds!

Like pp'ers said, he'll get them periodically.  My son didn't have a bleed after birth, or even after his second scan, so we were all totally shocked that he had a Level 2 bleed when he had his third scan done (probably around 10 days old or so.)  It was one of the worst days (mentally) for me in his whole NICU stay.  I remember so clearly - it was my first day into the NICU alone, as my DH had gone back to work and my mom went home.  They hadn't even told me he was scheduled for another scan, so I was totally unprepared for the news.  I was also told at the time that children with Level 2 bleeds tened to fair no worse developmentally then children with no bleeds, so that helped (a little - it still sucked).  But, a higher level bleed doesn't necessarily mean huge problems either - it's one of those wait and see things.

Regardless, my son's bleed did resolve on its own in a few weeks, and he had an MRI before discharge and didn't have much remaining damage.  So far he has some minor delays (speech, some fine motor) but nothing that should have a big impact on his life, we think!

Whew!  So all that stuff, just to summarize:  1. Hope he doesn't have a bleed at all. and 2.  If he does, try not to freak out too much b/c hopefully it won't make too much of a difference.  Let us know how it goes!

bhilyer

My guys had u/s on Day 7, Day 21 and Day 60 of life.  My smaller guy just had one last week.  It's a fairly easy test and is painless for the baby.

Best of luck! 

daphne814

Thank you so much for all the info. They were hoping to do the scan this morning, but LO had some drops and then they ended up switching him off the breathing tube and into a CPAP, so they wanted to wait to do the u/s so as not to overstimulate him.  So, hopefully they will get to do it this afternoon, and I will get to be there for it!  I will update once we get the results.  Thanks again

njdcgirl

Congrats for the move to CPAP!  That's great!  Hope the u/s goes fine too.

GatorNurse

My DD had a ultrasound at Day 7 that showed a unilateral Grade 2 bleed. Apparently, its better if its only on one side. It had resolved by Day 21. They told us most babies with a Grade 2, esp unilateral, don't show many signs if any later on of delays or issues. Good luck!

daphne814

Well, we had some minor issues with the CPAP today, so they didn't end up getting to the brain u/s until after I left.  I should get the results tomorrow.  Thank you for all the info...it helps going into this knowing what to expect.