Marlo's Birth Adventure - Update Day 14

Week #3 - So The Plot Thickens

Friday we went to the hospital to sign Marlo's release form so she could be transferred to McMaster.  To our surprise she was being hooked up to an IV.  Turns our there still wasn't a bed available at McMaster.  Her doctor here decided to make the next move.  It could be a day or two until one became available and it would not be in the NICU, it would be in the pediatrics department.

Through out the night Marlo was not overly interested in eating and threw up twice.  The Doctor had decided to start treating Marlo for Necrotising Entrocolitis (NEC).  He said there was a 50/50 chance that this would be the course of action they took at McMaster.  He and his team of Doctors are not 100% sure this is what she has.  But, they are not sure that it is Milk colitis anymore as the bleeding has become more persistent as apposed to getting better.  The E-ray from Thursday had raised some questions amungst the team reviewing it.  They ex-rayed her again Friday morning and the same area in her bowel raised question.   Most babies that have NEC become much sicker quicker and have more traceable symtoms.  Marlo has not followed the regular path of a NEC baby, however if she doe have it they will be ahead of the curve and hopefully get her better quicker.

The treatment for NEC is 10 days long and rather intensive.

• stopping feedings
• nasogastric drainage (inserting a tube through the nasal passages down to the stomach to remove air and fluid from the stomach and intestine)
• intravenous (IV) fluids for fluid replacement and nutrition
• antibiotics for infection
• frequent examinations and X-rays of the abdomen

The Doctor did tell us that NEC could make a baby much sicker then Marlo was and if it did get to that point she would be transferred to the next level up NICU.  She would be moved to which ever location had a bed available, either London, Hamilton or Toronto.  But for not they would continue here in Kitchener.  Thank goodness for that. 

It felt like we were taken such a step backwards.  She would have all the wires and tubes as she did before.  The IV may not work for all ten days and she may need a central line.  she will need so many needles and testing everyday.  God I hope this works, how much more can a little body take.  Dave and I left the hospital Friday morning very shaken up and upset.   We also left not knowing much about NEC other then it sounded horrible and was much worse then straight up milk colitis. 

Now that we had spent a bit of time reading about the disease, we feel much less fearful and more optimistic overall.  This is going to be a long treatment but will hopefully yield positive results in the end.  Meaning we may even get to bring our baby home.  


If you are interested in reading more about it here is the Link - Necrotising Entrocolitis

Marlo's Birth Adventure Part #2

Thursday Marlo had not put on weight.  Which meant she could not leave the NICU.  I needed to have a cat scan so they could have a better look at the wound.  It was then recommended that I pump and dump my milk for the next 24 hours.  I knew this meant breastfeeding would be done until we could get her home.  After 7 attempts of very painful poking they finally were able to get the IV started that was needed to insert the die for the cat scan.   The cat scan came back with good news.  I was not bleeding internally and that the pocket was 8 x 10 cm.  They decided the course of action was to get me home and have a vacuum put on the opening.  This would mean I need to carry an apparatus around with me everywhere I went for up to 30 days.  I managed to get some sleep Thursday night as I did not need to go feed Marlo.

WEEK #2
When I woke to go see Marlo Friday morning I found out she had lost more weight.  She also had to be moved back under the photo therapy as her Jaundice(bilirubin) number had gone back up and that there was blood in her stool.  AHHHHHHH.  When is this going to end.  I tried to breast feed her at her 9am feed.  She had no interest in working for her food.  Based on her weight loss the decision was made to ease up on attempting to breast feed and burning the calories she would intake and get her fed through expressing my milk.  It is going to be a long road back to breast feeding.

Friday morning would also be the day in which they started to discover blood in her stool.  All the formula feeding had triggered what the doctors thought was cows milk colitis.  I was asked to go on a dairy and soy free diet and they would supplement with a dairy free formula.  Marlo struggled to keep the formula down.  It was to difficult for her stomach process.  She threw up most of her feed.  Which meant she would still not gain weight.

Saturday was a day of progress.  It took three different formulas until they found one that she could tolerate. She was out of the photo therapy, she had her very first small weight gain and the blood in her stool had mostly gone. There would be a speck here or there in a diaper change but nothing overly concerning.  If she continued with this pattern she may be able to come home by Monday.  I was also discharged from the Hospital Saturday afternoon.  It broke my heart to leave my little girl behind.  This is not how things are supposed to go.

Sunday night she started to have more blood in here stool.  Coming home Monday was out the window.  Tuesday morning her pediatrician was in and examined her.  He let us know that she would not be coming home for the next few days minimum.  They needed to continue to monitor her and make sure she was on the mend. It is common to take up to two weeks for the bowels to settle once aggravated from milk colitis, If things went well she could come home Friday if not  maybe the Monday after that.

So here we are Thursday September 8th, 2011 thirteen days after Marlo was born.  There is no end in sight.  It is not a good day.  The bleeding has continued to increase.  They have continued to test her and get ex-rays to keep an eye on what is going on inside.  It was also decided that they would only feed her formula to remove more variables.  I am now pumping and freezing my milk in hopes to be able to feed it to her some day.

We received a phone call from Marlo's Doctor this afternoon.  He decided to consult with Mcmaster to see what they would suggest at this point as the bleeding has occurred for a week now.  Mcmaster's Doctors would like her to be transferred to them in Hamilton so they can watch her closer.  They have access to more testing for infants then they have here.  We would just have to wait until a bed was available.

So, we stand and wait for our little one to get better and come home.  Looks like we will be travelling back and forth to Hamilton for the next while.  I need to be able to come home as I am still on the mend and need the nurse to change the dressing for my wound.  Which by the way now has a second hole that needs to be dealt with.

Many tears have been shed and the emotional roller coaster has been more then I can handle at points.  We have been very lucky to have an amazing support system around us and are thankful for everyone who has been there for us.

Marlo's Birth Adventure Part #1

Marlo is still cooped up in the hospital for one week now.  If things had gone as planned we would have been home this passed Monday.  Just after we posted about Marlo's birth she was taken to the NICU with fluid in her lungs.  My C-section has went well.  I did not have any of the post-op issues I had when I had Otis.  Unfortunately Little Miss Marlo had a respiratory issues.  She was taken from us just minutes after we posted about her arrival.

Other then the 15 minutes I held her in the recovery room I wasn't even able to touch her for two days.   Sunday afternoon I found out that she would not be coming home with me.  I was devastated to say the least.  Her breathing was still all over the place and they were testing to see if she had an infection that may be causing her to be Tachypnic aka Hyperventilating.   One saving grace in this whole ordeal was that she was on an IV which meant she was not drinking formula.  By Sunday evening I was able to start holding her.  I would tuck her into my chest skin to skin and nap with her until I had to go pump trying to get my milk in for when she would be ready to feed.

To my surprise we were able to start attempting breast feeding Monday morning.  This meant I could Stay at the hospital in one of their sleep rooms once I was discharged.  Breast feeding was starting to work, she latched and fed some.  They would tube feed her the rest directly into he stomach.  They had to work her body up to a certain amount of fluid intake and make sure her body would tolerate it before they could take the IV out.  As time progresses they needed to speed up the process as hes body was stuggling to hold IV's.  The fluid they had her on is very hard on anyone's veins, especially babies.

In the mean time I was discharged from the Hospital Monday around lunch.  During my whole recovery after the c-section I had not seen a doctor.  We moved my stuff over to the sleep room and went for lunch in the cafeteria.  Once we finished lunch I stood up to get back to the NICU for a feeding and dropped blood on the floor.  I thought it had just missed my pad since I had been sitting for the first time in a chair.  When I got back upstairs I got myself cleaned up panicked a little as it was a lot of blood.  I spoke to the nurses about it, they had me go rest in the sleep room.  I went in the family room with Dave to rest and calm my emotions.  While in there Dave and I decided it would be best for me to go home in between feeding and pumps over night.  I needed to be surrounded by family and in my own bed.  The sleep room wasn't going to hack it for my sanity.  Marlo was still being fed by tube and would not need to have a bottle.  This meant I didn't really need to be there overnight.  Marlo also developed Jaundice o on Monday and needed to be put on phototherepy to clear the jaundice.

I discovered later that night once we were home from the last feed, that I was still bleeding a lot and that it was coming from my incision.  Off to the ER Dave and I went.  When we got to the hospital  it took over an hour to be triaged.  There were only four people in front of me.  Once we were put in line we were told we could wait upstairs in the NICU instead of in the ER if we wanted to.  This was great, I could pump and relax in the family lounge. Dave started pacing the NICU while I slept.  It was the middle of the night so he went to visit Marlo.  Marlo's nurse was surpised we were still there.  She called down to the ER to make sure they did not miss us.  I eventually woke up to pump and told her that my Doctor was in the hospital on call that night.  She made many calls trying to get in contact with him.  No one would let her speak to him.  About an hour later nurse told nurse told nurse and word had made it to him that I was in the ER line waiting to be seen.  He travelled the hospital looking for me.

Breaking many rules he brought me into the Labour and delivery triage and looked at my incesion to see what was going on.  He determind the inner incision was closed and that a pocket had form that was bleeding.  It would take some time to see what was happening so he readmitted me into the hospital.  He had told me then that he was surprised to see I was discharged.  He had gone to check in on me about an hour after I had been discharged and I was gone.

Tuesday was a non eventful day for me I continued to leak blood.    Marlo was off the lights and feeding well on me and we began to suppliment with my milk by bottle.  This was the beginging of the end to the breastfeeding I was told Tuesday night that they were no longer going to treat Marlo as a sick baby.  I would be able to change her bathe her and we just needed the jaudice to stay in check and for her to gain wieght

Wednesday I had an ultra sound to see what was going on the bleeding had not stopped as the doctor had hoped.  He poked around a far bit to see if there was a clot causing the pocket to bleed.  The ultrasound was brutal.  The technichian had to push on the staples of my incision trying to get the right images.  When doing so she was causing me an extreme amount of pain and pushing out the remain blood the doctor had broken up.  This made her panic and go look for any on call doctor.  In the end she could not get the images she needed and I went back upstairs. I was told Wednesday morning that if Marlo gained weight and the bilirun number stayed down we could get her discharged to my room Thursday.  Low and benold she lost weight and the jaundice relapsed.  Feeding was still going O.k. but not as well as when she was not received a bottle to supplement.

To be continued.....

Little Miss Marlo

Born this morning at 10:12am
Marlo Gabriella Ivanco
6 pounds 10oz
Mom and baby doing well

Beer Belly Picture

It is a tradition in my family to have a picture of your baby belly and a beer resting on it.  I thought I would take you through a tour.

My Mom pregnant with me.

My Baby Belly with Otis

My Belly with Little Miss M.

We can't forget Otis' Belly 

Little Miss M's Corner

I have been busy nesting as they say.  It was time to start getting ready for this little one to get here.  I have been at the sewing machine a lot over the last couple of weeks making all the little bits I need.

Here is a list of everything I have sewn in the last 2 weeks:

• 12 burp cloths

• 32 cloth wipes
• 16 cloth diaper liners
• 8 sets of breast pads

• 5 change pads

• 3 receiving blankets
• 1 swaddle blanket

• 1 diaper bag

• and a set curtain for the door

Little Miss M will not be getting her own room for awhile yet.  We have set up a corner of the house to be her very own for now.  It has her change table and dresser in it.  She also has her own closet.  She will be staying in our room to start and Otis has asked to share a room with her when she is in the crib.  We will see if this actually happens it.  But for now her corner will work.  I have had just a much fun getting this corner ready as if I was setting up her own room.

Little Miss M's Baby Shower

Last month My mom and Miranda threw us a baby shower.  It was a great success.  This little girl needs her own walk-in closet already.

We are well stocked I can not think of a thing we will need.  I am so thankful to have such great people to surround myself with.  Thanks you to all who came and sent along gifts.

 My Nona Grifa made this dress for Miranda twenty eight years ago.  She passed away 25 years ago.

There were five babes under the age of one here.  Four girls and one little boy.  Soon to be six to one.   Rachael had a baby girl Laura two weeks after the shower.