Waiting game explained

I complained up a storm (actually I used the "B" word but I'm trying to clean it up a bit) and pushed my weight at as angry mom and they called a teleconference with the surgeon. I explained that he is in extreme pain and cannot sleep and I am tired of the "wait and see" attitude. He finally explained WHY we are waiting and seeing. Apparently he thinks the stool isn't going everywhere in his abdomen but is using the tunnel they created when he had the ostomy. They think that the stool is coming out exactly where they made the ostomy and it is coming out just like it did before. If they are correct they believe that it will heal on its own, but just take a little time. If the stool increases, though, they expect that it is coming out at a different place and it will need to be surgically repaired. They are calling in the wound care team to look at the hole on his skin. The stool is "digesting" his skin and so it's VERY painful. He is still getting versed (a good pain killer) every so often which is keeping him calm. They plan to feed him again sometime today so we'll see what happens.

Meanwhile they did start giving him antibiotics just in case. I INSISTED on this. The e coli thing was the scariest moment in my life and I'll be DAMNED if I see it repeated.

sprung a leak

So logan's wounds from his surgeries healed over. The dr called Zach at around 9 or 10pm and told him that he had a hole in his stomach that fluid is leaking out of. Basicly the hole where his ostomy used to be broke open and is now leaking what the nurses believe to be stool. We have no clue what this means or what is going to happen. Tomorrow the dr is coming to look at it. I am freaking out and worried. Hopefully the dr sleeps well tonight. He is going to get an earfull when I see him.

We'll see

Dr. Brown checked Logan out and said that his xrays look okay and because he's still pooping they don't think he has a block. He has no clue why Logan puked so they're going to restart feeds tomorrow. We'll see what happens.

Crap

Logan is throwing up again. They stopped feeds and are pumping his stomach out again. He'll be fed barium tomorrow and have a day of xrays every 4 hours again. My heart is shattering into tiny little pieces.

YAY poop!!

So Logan had a MASSIVE poop today so it seems this last surgery did the trick. They started feeding him today. It's only 7 cc every 3 hours but it's a start. He's having to relearn how to eat. He's not very good at it, but he'll get a hang of it again I'm sure. He's doing well so far. The doctor said we have to get his feeds up to where they should be and he can go home! He said 2 to 3 weeks as long as he continues to improve!

YAY!!!!!!! SO
EXCITED!!!

Doing okay

So far Logan is doing alright. He lost a lot of the excess fluid he gained from his surgery. He pooped a little. He's still agitated and maybe even a little hungry? He looks less green and he slept for more than 10 minutes at a time last night. Hopefully this is it. I'm so ready to take my little boy home. I want to cuddle on the couch so bad it hurts. I love you little man. I can't wait for mommy time!

SUPRISE

I got a call today at about 9am from an unknown number. Well that's odd. I picked up pretty sleepily and it was a nurse from Carle. She says to me, "I've got Dr. Browne here to talk to you. He's the neonatal surgeon." All I could think to myself at the moment was, "yeah lady, I've been around every day, twice or more times a day. I know nearly every staff member and their mothers."

She hands the phone to Dr. Browne (which I laugh inside a little because they had to explain to him that they called me so he could explain what's going on. I guess 1) he wasn't expecting to talk to me and 2) they don't realize how loud they talk because they set the phone on the counter.).

Dr. Brown asks me if I can come it at 10am to sign the consent form. They were prepping him for surgery.

Now, I knew he was going to need surgery. He was vomiting all his food and was in pain every time they fed him. I figured, surely they would give me a day to mentally prepare myself. Shows you how wrong I was. I got an hour. It's probably a good thing to get this done. I mean, the TPN and Lipids were killing his liver. He seems more jaundice every time I see him. Though, the first time they noticed that the barium they made him swallow stopped dead in its tracks they could have said, "if there is a blockage there or anywhere else we're going to do surgery tomorrow." That would be awesome. I could have warned my boss a little sooner (though I'm sure a 7 hour notice was sufficient).

Anywho, his surgery took a little over 3 hours. He had scar tissue around his last surgery site on his intestine that caused his intestine to wall off. They took about 2 more inches of intestine out and then checked his bowel again to make sure everything looked okay. They gave him some blood. Not because he was bleeding a lot, but because it was just a little low.

When he got out of surgery he looked okay. He fidgeted a little but the anesthesia was wearing off. They're giving him fentenol every 2 hours and he can have tylonal along with that if he needs it. At about 8pm they extubated him and he went to 2 liters of oxygen on a high flow nasal cannula.

Lets hope this is it. I never want to see my baby cut up again. It's just making me so ill watching his body, which is so new, be riddled with scars and pokes.

We love you so much, Logan. I'm sorry this is happening to you.

Yay pictures!

When he's in a good mood you can tickle him

He was trying hard core to eat my finger.

So a bit of an update. When Logan eats we thought it just sat in his stomach and is really painful. They started doing xrays every 4 hours and they discovered that it is moving, just VERY VERY slowly. As an example they fed him the barium at 9am Wednesday morning and as I'm typing (almost 6am Thursday) it is just in his lower bowel. He isn't so much in pain anymore, just uncomfortable and hungry. The doctors haven't said why this is happening yet....if they even know. For now I'm going to try and be with him as much as possible. I have been able to keep him calm for more than 5 minutes at a time. It takes a certain amount of patting, and shaking that I have down to an art.

Barfed on

So feedings are going so-so. He is really fussy and he burps a lot. I'm wondering if he has reflux. He also barfed on me and it smelled horrible. We'll see what happens.

Very Merry Undbirthday

Today is Logan's Gestation Day! He is still under 5 pounds but he's going to start growing. I kinda got a little.....I dunno if aggressive is the right word but I scared the doctor into feeding him. Zach says I intimidated him. I didn't really mean to. I just wanted answers on WHY they weren't feeding him. The poor kid is starving!

These were taken on the 10th. It was his 100th day in the NICU. It was pretty cute.

His face is so chubby!!! It weirds me out that his eye is a little crosseyed but I'm told even term babies do this and it usually corrects itself after awhile.

Yay!

Logan extubated! For those of you who have no clue what that is they took his breathing tube out. He is doing okay. They're weaning his pain meds down and he's doing okay with that, too. They even heard some bowel sounds! This means maybe sometime in the next couple days he can have FOOD!