Saturday Fun

I just wanted to let everyone know that Will is doing well and so far, nothing has changed. I went for a late visit last night and walked in just as they were swapping out his IV. He had had one put in his head yesterday morning when they diagnosed him with NEC, but apparently it had stopped working. After two pokes, they got a new one in his hand. It was awful to watch because he was screaming and I know what it feels like to be a human pin cushion. As an adult, I knew it would be over soon, but newborns have no understanding of that. Once the IV was in, the technician came to do more x-rays of his stomach and intestines. These are being done almost every 12 hours right now, to ensure that the infection doesn't spread or become more severe. Outside of the IV, he also has a new tube that goes in through his mouth and suctions any extra fluid and gunk out of his stomach. The next 7-10 days will become pretty monotonous in his treatment, unless his condition were to get worse. He will continue to get fluids through his IV...his body will be pumped full of antibiotics...he will have absolutely no feedings...x-rays and blood tests will be performed daily. At the end of 7 days, they will evaluate if he needs to continue the antibiotics up until 10 days. Once the antibiotics are stopped, they will begin feedings again. Unfortunately, we have to start all over with that as well. They will put his feeding tube back in and begin with just a couple of mls...working their way back up to the 40mls he had been on right before he got sick. At some point, the bottle will be reintroduced and hopefully his little system will be able to tolerate it all. I feel confident that he is going to be just fine, however I do worry about him having difficulty digesting the breastmilk and/or formula and possibly running into some of the same issues we experienced with Lili in terms of her intolerance to certain things. I have my fingers crossed that that won't become an issue though!

Today we made another trip to the hospital and this time Lili and our friends, John & Lisa, came with us. Everyone got to see the little guy (except Lili, who refused to wear a mask) and Drew and I were able to spend some extra time with him while John & Lisa entertained our crazy toddler! They took her down to McDonald's for an afternoon snack and apparently Lili did more of the entertaining. Sounds like she had a ton of fun dipping fries (and fingers!) in ketchup....... When we met back up with them, Lili was pushing her stroller through the hospital halls and running into lots of walls...and people! Yikes! She was so happy and had to say "Hiyee!!" to everyone who passed her! Luckily most people thought it was cute and said hello back...but I do think it's awful when people know that she's saying hi to them and just ignore her. How can you resist that sweet little face!?!?!?! Anyway, after our hospital fun we had dinner with our friends at their house (they always make the best food!) and came home early to get Lili to bed.

Here are some pics from our fun day...