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.