The Shallow End

Spartacus

Julian was one week old yesterday. And it was a good week. Both mom and baby were doing very good, better than anyone expected. So good that I decided to go ahead with my trip to Seattle/Tacoma, where I now sit typing this. He was breathing on his own (and had been since day 1), eating breast milk (albeit through a small tube in his nose so as not to overfeed him), putting on weight (almost back to his birth weight), and his coloring was good (he's been put under a special light for jaundice a couple times, but they say this is normal for preemies). But as Murphy would dictate, almost as soon as I arrived here (one day later), I got word that things might not be going so well for poor Julian.

Yesterday (Sunday), after 4 days of successful feedings and bowel movements(!), the nurse noticed a little blood in his stool. They immediately pulled him off of real food (replacing it with a fluid IV) and started running tests to rule out NEC, an intestinal disease that affects preemies with alarming frequency. If it is NEC, this could be very serious. Many babies do not survive (although, if I am to be an optimist, I should say that many DO! I don't know what the odds are, but according to one non-medical website I visited, 50% survive). So far, all of the tests and doctor reports are good , but they did detect an infection in his blood this morning and put him on antibiotics immediately. The x-rays didn't reveal any tissue damage, but we won't know until tomorrow what kind of infection this is. Until then, we are praying it is not NEC and that Julian is able to fight the infection as stoically as he has fought everything else thus far. We would really appreciate your prayers also.

My husband has nicknamed him Spartacus, "because Spartacus always wins." :-)

Labels: Baby Spartacus, Family

posted by Gwynne @ 11:51 AM