Backing up... week 3

It's the Mom again. Another week has passed, and it's been a tougher one. We were warned that life in the NICU would be consist of 2 steps forward and 1 step back. Well we've had some steps back this week after so many leaps forward.

The most significant step back has been the digestion. Last week she made it up to full feedings, got her IV taken out on her 2-week birthday, and started on the milk fortifier to increase her calories. She was getting ready to grow and grow and grow. Well, after reaching 26mL of breastmilk with fortifier, she started having more trouble digesting. Sometimes it would go fine, sometimes she would spit up a lot, and sometimes she would have almost the entire feeding left over when it came time for the next one. After a couple of days of this, the doctor noticed her belly was very distended.

Yesterday (Thursday) they did an x-ray of her belly, and found that her small bowel was very distended and there was a large amount of air throughout. The doctor then ordered a "barium enema". I'll spare the graphic details but it's a test where they inject a contrast solution from the "downstream" direction and image the colon in a cath-lab type room. For this we had to go on a "field trip" to radiology, so she rode in the same kind of transporter she took through the tunnels from Abbott when she was born.

The exam turned out well. There were no apparent structural issues with the colon, but it also didn't answer the question about what was going on. Unfortunately, this meant she could not receive more breastmilk feedings until more testing was done. So after being IV-free for one week, on her 3-week birthday she got a new IV, this time in her leg, so they could restart TPN nutrition. She was disappointed about this, and so were Mom and Dad.

Today her belly looked a little better, but the morning x-ray still showed a lot of air. So again, she was loaded into the transporter for a second "field trip" to radiology. This time she was catching on that these were not fun outings. They did an upper GI study this time, injecting contrast from the "upstream" direction. Now we wait to see a series of x-rays to watch the contrast move through. We're looking forward to getting this question settled so she can start her feedings again as soon as possible. Prayers are as always much appreciated!