Scary times

It has been a bit of a tough 24 hours, but things are looking up now. Riley continued to have even more trouble with his heart rate dropping and then, late last night, the left side of his face became red, hard, and swollen, and he was unable to open his left eye. The doctors did lots of bloodwork to determine what was going on and they figured out that he was battling an infection somewhere. So, they started IV antibiotics at midnight last night. Today, he had a CT scan and was seen by an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist, who determined that he has an infected parotid gland (salivary gland), which is causing the swelling. The antibiotics have already started to work and the swelling is going down and he is now able to open his eye again. Thankfully, the antibiotics should completely solve the problem and he should be absolutely fine. The doctors feel that the heart rate dips were due to him fighting the infection, and thankfully, he is having far fewer of them now (all preemies have a few dips but he was having too many!). More good news for Riley....he gained another ounce and now weighs 4 lbs 3oz! Ross also had another gain and is now at 3lbs 3oz. For those of you who have been to visit and have seen Ross' bellybutton....yes, it is weird looking. But, he had an x-ray today and the doctors discovered that he has a hernia, which is why his bellybutton looks that way. It is no big deal and will either get better on his own, or he may have to have it repaired when he is 5 years old. Thankfully, it's nothing we have to worry about now! Thanks for checking on the boys!