Continues

The digestive issues continue.

He had a lot of diarrhea yesterday again.
The nutritionist came down and wanted to add some sort of fortifier to his breastmilk because his growth pattern is so pathetic. They said no because of his stool issues.

He did gain 40 grams last night which is good. They weighed him with his CPAP on so there might be an extra 5 grams in there that isn't his, but still, it went up and it went up the way it should. That's good.

Then I called to check on him this morning and he'd have bloody stool overnight. Got an Xray, everything looks okay. But my nerves are shot.

His breathing is still very good.

Basically, everyone is discussing what to do about his tummy.
They discussed trying him on formula because sometimes they'll tolerate 24 calorie formula better than they'll tolerate breastmilk fortified to 24 calories (BM is 20 calories on its own.) That made me sad and scared me because of the digestive issues and my fear of NEC.

They also discussed maybe trying to move his NJ back to an NG (back to his stomach instead of his intestines) to see if that helped. That would be my preference, but I'm not a medical professional. But I can't help but wonder if the bloody stool incident won't make them try that before they do much else with his food.

The NJ tube helped his breathing by leaps and bounds, but the hope is that he's older and much improved now so maybe he could handle a bit more reflux than he could a few weeks ago.

I don't know. I just know we need prayers. Lots of prayers. Goats, llamas, moose, whatever.

In the meantime, my dog has his surgery this morning. Wish him luck, too.

And last night the whatever-it-is in my side went crazy. The ultrasound of my gall bladder said it was fine but that my liver is enlarged and fatty. I don't know what the deal is, but I did have some greasy chinese food yesterday and almost went to the ER last night. It started aching a bit when I was kangarooing but was manageable. But by the time I drove home from the hospital, I was literally moaning in pain.
I came in and tried to lay down but nothing helped. I was in tears.

David brought me one of my motrin leftover from after I had Robbie (which I didn't even need for the C section but HAD to have last night) and I slept for a while sitting up.

This pain is mostly in my back, on the right side, radiated to the front and into my shoulder. Upper right quadrant pain if ever I heard of it. I'm just waiting for the doctor's office to open this morning.

I won't be going to work today. Mostly I'm just playing it by ear. Drop the dog off at the vet, call the doc when they open and then depending when they can see me, I might sneak up to the hospital to see Robbie during the day, or I might wait and go in the afternoon. We'll see.

--Trish

P.S. If any preemie moms out there dealt with digestive/growth issues like that, I'd love to hear from you. I'm terrified and could really use some stories of encouragement.