MRI scheduled for tomorrow

We talked to the neurosurgeon today and found out a bit more information. First, I'll answer some of your questions and explain why he needs surgery. Benjamin had a Grade 4 bleed in the brain when he was first born. They have been doing ultrasounds every three weeks to make sure that this bleed is resolving. They have also been measuring his head circumference twice a week. This tells them whether the bleeding has gotten worse or whether it is resolving. In the past two weeks his head circumference has gone up 2 1/2 cm. Before this his head circumference was the same as Kyle's. They did an ultrasound last Friday and found out that he has a blood clot blocking the left ventricle. There are 3 ventricles in the brain- a left one, a right one and a middle one. Spinal fluid is building up in Benjamin's left ventricle since the blood clot is blocking its normal escape route. They need to either put a VP shunt in to let the fluid out into his abdomen or they can put a camera into his brain and then put a hole from the left ventricle to the right ventricle where the spinal fluid will automatically drain. They are doing a MRI tomorrow morning to find out more about the blood clot and then will decide from there. The surgery could be next Monday or later. We are planning to take Kyle home tomorrow night since he got sent up to paeds because of lack of space in RCH NICU. Kyle is allowed to come visit Benjamin here so that is good. The surgery is routine according to the surgeon because only Children's does this type of surgery. However, it is still a risky surgery.

To answer another question- yes Benjamin and Kyle are identical. For those of you who don't really know much about twins this doesn't mean that they always act the same. For example, Kyle has a different cry than Benjamin and Benjamin gets upset faster.

I am getting used to no sleep already although I was able to steal an hour nap this afternoon. I guess I have to get used to it sometime. Even that little nap made me and Gary feel better and I was able to deal with the grumpy unit clerk better. However, all the nurses here are really nice and some of them remember us from when we were here for the PDA ligation. We also met a mom who was at RCH before and then got transferred to Children's.

Well, I'll update you again tomorrow morning. And, Sandra, yes it was Selena. Hopefully I'll get to meet your sister- do you know what pod she is in- I wouldn't mind talking to her since I've been through a lot of the same stuff that she'll be going through.

I'm pretty sure that Benjamin is missing Kyle and vice versa. We haven't been able to get away to visit Kyle today but hope to go tomorrow and finally take him home:) We called this morning and he was doing good. Update you tomorrow- thanks for all the prayers.