Week 2 in the NICU

Monday Sept.7th--

One week post surgery and Rowdy has another great day! Doctors are optimistic...he hasn't spit up any of his meals and his stomach hasn't been distended (swollen) at all, meaning the surgery seems successful and that everything is passing down the digestive track properly. Rowdy has been having many wet diapers but still hasn't pooped without the help of the suppository, although they are glad that there is at least poop present in his bowels. We are hoping that he will start going on his own here shortly, but they don't seem TOO concerned about this.

I am able to start breastfeeding him 4x daily now but only 1/2oz at each feeding to start. Because I am not sure how much he is getting they brought in a VERY sensitive scale so I can weigh him before feeding and then after to gage how many oz he has consumed. He is latching on just great although he gets a little sleepy all cuddled up to mommy, so normally we finish every meal with a bottle of breastmilk. If he does well handling this amount we will up him to 1oz for 4 feedings and if he handles that fine they will up it to 1 1/2oz for 4 feedings and so on. They would like to see him consuming and holding down 2-3oz a feeding before he can go home.

We are still waiting to hear back on whether his ureters are still dialated. We hope it is just Rowdy's immature bladder and not the valves that will have to be operated on. We will be finding out tomorrow. Rowdy's doctor believes there won't be any problem and that the chance of him actually having valves is slim to none.

Tuesday Sept 8th--

Rowdy is on a roll, another great day! At 2am they decided that Rowdy was holding great on his feedings and so they upped his meals to 1oz. He is getting his nighttime feedings via bottle of my breastmilk mixed with a little colostrum. His #2 is starting to resemble breastmilk poop so nurses are optimistic that the suppository given overnight will be the last.

At the morning shift change, Dr. Newman (the gastrointestinal surgeon) stopped by Rowdy's bedside and was AMAZED that he was already on feedings and doing well handling them. He was very pleased and upped his feedings to 1 1/2 oz. This afternoon he had a poopy all on his own and was so much it was almost a blow out! The bowels are a workin'!

They stopped his "Gatorade" (his IV feedings) completely today and flushed his PICC line. If he continues to do well, they will remove his PICC line tomorrow. At 1pm today, they did the renal ultrasound to look at his kidneys, answers are still pending. We should know tomorrow what's going on with that.

I have been going into the NICU every three hours to breastfeed. He does great but tends to get VERY sleepy next to me, so we have to finish with a bottle. I'm not too concerned, my main concern is getting the amount the nurses want to s-ee down so we can go home as soon as possible. When we get home we can spend more time on the breastfeeding.

Assuming we get the green light tomorrow on his kidneys they are saying that we could be going home as early as the weekend!!! WOW...that's amazing, Lance and I are trying to to let ourselves get THAT optimistic and just focus on the daily hurdles. This is MUCH sooner than we expected!!

Wednesday Sept 9th (2 week birthday)--

We have encountered a setback...we got the results back from the test yesterday. It showed that the ureters that WERE dialated weren't anymore but the bladder and the urethra were both still significantly dialated. They want to do a procedure that requires anesthesia where they will scope up the urethra to the bladder to see what is going on. Rowdy's pediactric urologist, Dr. Hersilj says that he will either see an anatomical obstruction which would require him to make some incisions to remove valves while in there, OR it would be a functional obstruction meaning it is just an immature system that will have to be monitered in the months to come. The procedure is scheduled for tomorrow at 11:45am. A silver lining to them doing this procedure is that they are going to do his circumcision at the same time since he will be under anesthesia. So at least he won't have to be strapped to board and awake! Yikes, mommy is glad about this.

A little disappointed that we didn't get the "all clear" today. It seems that Rowdy's stomach is healing quickly. Dr. Newman removed the bandage today and so all that is left is his steri strips and he is eating and pooping great. The PICC line that was supposed to come out today they have to leave in to administer the anesthesia tomorrow. I am hoping that because of the anesthesia that his bowels won't slow down again and that his release day won't be postponed.

So nothing really bad today, just not the" a-okay" we would have liked.

Thursday Sept 10th (Rowdy's original Due Date)--

Rowdy had his procedure today and there WAS an anatomical obstruction in the urethra that was causing urine back up to his bladder and kidneys. The obstruction was at an embryonic "meeting place" during fetal development that apparently didn't meet up perfectly on Rowdy, so there was an extra "donut" in the way. This is something that wouldn't have resolved by itself so Dr. Hersilj made 4 slits in the "donut" so it no longer obstructs we will retest in 4-6 weeks to ensure everything is healed and flowing properly. Rowdy also had his circumcision during this procedure. For the procedure the gave him a caudal block, which is baby spinal block, so he feels nothing! He had to have a catheder inserted also, so it will keep his little pee pee dry and give it a couple days to heal. They will remove it in 2 days then needs to have a wet diaper and we can go home!!

Friday Sept 11th--

Yesterday Rowdy's caudal block shocked his intestines so they did end up giving him food thru his PICC line, but today he his back on his milk. They started again at 1/2oz and will up it throughout the day, hopefully back up to 2-3oz by tonight/tomorrow. His cathader and PICC line should come out tomorrow and then as long as he can pass his food thru wet and dirty diapers the drs believe he will be able to go home tomorrow or Sunday!!!