Monday August 31st--
Rowdy went through surgery for his duodenal atresia, the birth defect that caused a blockage in his small intestine, at just a mere 5 days old. Lance and I were to say the least pretty nervous. We had a wonderful group of friends and family who took over the waiting room to support us through it. They were a wonderful distraction and fervent prayer team. Rowdy came through the surgery wonderfully! Dr. Newman, the pediactric gastrointestinal surgeon, met with us directly after. He said that the surgery went exactally as he had planned, no surprises, which was great news. Now we are just waiting to see that the amount being suctioned from his stomach decreases, assuming that most would be flowing in the right direction. And also we are looking for the color to turn from the green to more of a bleach yellow color meaning that the bile is not as concentrated because it is flowing in the right direction.
When we walked over to our baby boy's bed, they still had him on the ventilater. He was very sleepy because they had him on a morphine drip to keep him comfortable. From this point on while on the drugs we lovingly called him, "Mamma's little junkie." (hee hee) Rowdy seemed to be adding to the cords and wires attached to him...he had a cathedar placed in for surgery. He only had the morphine and cathedar for the first day and a half. Two days after his surgery, the color had turned to the bleach color and the amount had significantly decreased. They left the suction tube in his mouth in just in case but turned it to what they call gravity. It was actively suctioning but if the amounts reached a level in his tummy that was too high it would then turn on. It was wonderful to get Rowdy off the morphine because he started to become a little more alert, but this was also not so good because he started to be bothered by the suction tube through his mouth and he started gagging on it...this of course started making me gag and I just wanted to take it out to releave his discomfort. We hoped that if the amount and color kept getting better that by the next day they would remove it.
Thursday Sept 3th--
Rowdy had a pretty uneventful day today. Lance and I left for dinner while the NICU closed for rounds and returned at 10:30pm when we knew Rowdys stats were going to be taken...he now weighs 7lbs 4oz...almost back to his birth weight! When we returned we walked up to his bed to find the nurses and Dr. Baxter pumping Rowdy's stomach which was full of blood (old blood, left over from surgery). They explained to us that the surgery can cause some bleeding and it can go up to the stomach or down the digestive track, but normally takes the path of least resistence and heads back up away from the surgery site. So they had to pump saline solution into his stomach and then suction it back out about 10 times until it came out clear. It was awful...he was gagging constantly. Lance doesn't do great at the sight of blood, especially involving out baby, had to go step outside to get some fresh air.
Friday Sept 4th--
Since Rowdy had the episode the night before, they turned the suction back on...a slight step backward. They did give him some sort of medicine that will help neutralize and settle his stomach. They weren't too concerned with the episode, they said it was pretty common after bowel surgery. It definitely scared Lance and I more than it did them.
They did however graduate him from the high risk Level 3 NICU to the Level 2 side of the NICU which is must quieter and less stressful. Level 1 is considered going home, so he is one step closer to getting better.
Rowdy had a renal ultrasound to take a look at his urinary track which did confirm it was still dialated. They first noticed the day he was born during the ultrasound right before the C-section that his bladder and kidneys were dialated or swollen. This dialation could mean either another birth defect (valves that formed in his urethra that would need to be fixed surgically) or just an immature bladder that can't hold the urine and so it back washes back up to the kidneys which should revolve itself on its own within a couple months.
Saturday Sept 5th--
Rowdy is having a great day. They put the stomach pump back on gravity, which is not the continuous pumping but it will only turn on if his stomach contents reache an unacceptable level. If he does great over the next 24 hrs then they will fully remove the tube from his mouth, which I would LOVE. It makes me hurt everytime he gags on it.
Today I got to have some kangaroo time with him which was WONDERFUL! This is when mom and baby get down to skin and the place baby right on your chest skin to skin. I sat in a recliner type chair and they tied Rowdy to me with a special little blanket, covered us with warm blankets and we took a nap together. It was the first time since he was born that I was able to feel his warm little body next to mine, I was in heaven! They also removed his oxygen saturation lead that was attached to his foot...so one less wire hooked to my baby. Lance and I gave him a sponge bath and we were able to dress him in some of his own clothes that we brought from home. He actually didn't look like a sick baby today when we were able to get him all dressed up. He is just SOOO cute we can't stand it!
Sunday Sept 6th--
Lance and I traveled back to Keizer for Saturday night and Sunday morning to spend time with Lance's sister-in-law MaryO and our nephew Vance who drove into town from Spokane, WA. We were planning on heading back up to see Rowdy in the afternoon. Mid-morning, Rowdy's nurse Karen called me with GREAT news! She said she just could wait until we came back to the NICU today to tell us the good news...Rowdy's suction tube was removed!!! YEA...no more gagging baby boy. And she said that he as VERY active and rooting around sucking on anything that gets close to his mouth so Dr. Baxter said that I could put him to breast 2-3 times a day! That was way more than I expected to be able to do so soon. I will have to pump most of the milk first so that I don't overwhelm his little tummy, but I am so happy my boy will get his first taste of milk. We will do small doses and hope that his tummy will know what to do with it.
Rowdy went through surgery for his duodenal atresia, the birth defect that caused a blockage in his small intestine, at just a mere 5 days old. Lance and I were to say the least pretty nervous. We had a wonderful group of friends and family who took over the waiting room to support us through it. They were a wonderful distraction and fervent prayer team. Rowdy came through the surgery wonderfully! Dr. Newman, the pediactric gastrointestinal surgeon, met with us directly after. He said that the surgery went exactally as he had planned, no surprises, which was great news. Now we are just waiting to see that the amount being suctioned from his stomach decreases, assuming that most would be flowing in the right direction. And also we are looking for the color to turn from the green to more of a bleach yellow color meaning that the bile is not as concentrated because it is flowing in the right direction.
When we walked over to our baby boy's bed, they still had him on the ventilater. He was very sleepy because they had him on a morphine drip to keep him comfortable. From this point on while on the drugs we lovingly called him, "Mamma's little junkie." (hee hee) Rowdy seemed to be adding to the cords and wires attached to him...he had a cathedar placed in for surgery. He only had the morphine and cathedar for the first day and a half. Two days after his surgery, the color had turned to the bleach color and the amount had significantly decreased. They left the suction tube in his mouth in just in case but turned it to what they call gravity. It was actively suctioning but if the amounts reached a level in his tummy that was too high it would then turn on. It was wonderful to get Rowdy off the morphine because he started to become a little more alert, but this was also not so good because he started to be bothered by the suction tube through his mouth and he started gagging on it...this of course started making me gag and I just wanted to take it out to releave his discomfort. We hoped that if the amount and color kept getting better that by the next day they would remove it.
Thursday Sept 3th--
Rowdy had a pretty uneventful day today. Lance and I left for dinner while the NICU closed for rounds and returned at 10:30pm when we knew Rowdys stats were going to be taken...he now weighs 7lbs 4oz...almost back to his birth weight! When we returned we walked up to his bed to find the nurses and Dr. Baxter pumping Rowdy's stomach which was full of blood (old blood, left over from surgery). They explained to us that the surgery can cause some bleeding and it can go up to the stomach or down the digestive track, but normally takes the path of least resistence and heads back up away from the surgery site. So they had to pump saline solution into his stomach and then suction it back out about 10 times until it came out clear. It was awful...he was gagging constantly. Lance doesn't do great at the sight of blood, especially involving out baby, had to go step outside to get some fresh air.
Friday Sept 4th--
Since Rowdy had the episode the night before, they turned the suction back on...a slight step backward. They did give him some sort of medicine that will help neutralize and settle his stomach. They weren't too concerned with the episode, they said it was pretty common after bowel surgery. It definitely scared Lance and I more than it did them.
They did however graduate him from the high risk Level 3 NICU to the Level 2 side of the NICU which is must quieter and less stressful. Level 1 is considered going home, so he is one step closer to getting better.
Rowdy had a renal ultrasound to take a look at his urinary track which did confirm it was still dialated. They first noticed the day he was born during the ultrasound right before the C-section that his bladder and kidneys were dialated or swollen. This dialation could mean either another birth defect (valves that formed in his urethra that would need to be fixed surgically) or just an immature bladder that can't hold the urine and so it back washes back up to the kidneys which should revolve itself on its own within a couple months.
Saturday Sept 5th--
Rowdy is having a great day. They put the stomach pump back on gravity, which is not the continuous pumping but it will only turn on if his stomach contents reache an unacceptable level. If he does great over the next 24 hrs then they will fully remove the tube from his mouth, which I would LOVE. It makes me hurt everytime he gags on it.
Today I got to have some kangaroo time with him which was WONDERFUL! This is when mom and baby get down to skin and the place baby right on your chest skin to skin. I sat in a recliner type chair and they tied Rowdy to me with a special little blanket, covered us with warm blankets and we took a nap together. It was the first time since he was born that I was able to feel his warm little body next to mine, I was in heaven! They also removed his oxygen saturation lead that was attached to his foot...so one less wire hooked to my baby. Lance and I gave him a sponge bath and we were able to dress him in some of his own clothes that we brought from home. He actually didn't look like a sick baby today when we were able to get him all dressed up. He is just SOOO cute we can't stand it!
Sunday Sept 6th--
Lance and I traveled back to Keizer for Saturday night and Sunday morning to spend time with Lance's sister-in-law MaryO and our nephew Vance who drove into town from Spokane, WA. We were planning on heading back up to see Rowdy in the afternoon. Mid-morning, Rowdy's nurse Karen called me with GREAT news! She said she just could wait until we came back to the NICU today to tell us the good news...Rowdy's suction tube was removed!!! YEA...no more gagging baby boy. And she said that he as VERY active and rooting around sucking on anything that gets close to his mouth so Dr. Baxter said that I could put him to breast 2-3 times a day! That was way more than I expected to be able to do so soon. I will have to pump most of the milk first so that I don't overwhelm his little tummy, but I am so happy my boy will get his first taste of milk. We will do small doses and hope that his tummy will know what to do with it.
YEA! I still remember the wonderful day that the suction tube was removed AND you got to breastfeed! We were all celebrating!
ReplyDeleteNice job recreating the sequence of events...it seems like such a long time ago, but it really wasn't
ReplyDelete