Calvin is doing so great!

Now that Calvin is over his tummy troubles, he is doing amazing. After he finished 10 days of intense antibiotics Calvin still had an area in his bowels that was severely dilated. They thought it was a blockage, but wanted to wait to see if it fixed itself. This was maddeningly frustrating for me. He could not progress at all while this was going on, the doctor that was on did not want to do anything invasive until he took a turn for the worse. I did not want to wait for him to get worse, especially when there was a test that would tell us what the problem was so we could take care of it.

On Tuesday morning last week a different doctor came on, and wanted to do the test right away. I was so relieved to finally get answers and not have to watch my baby be in limbo and be so sick. For the test they stuck a tube up his little bum and then pushed a contrast fluid through the tube into his bowels. They watch this fluid go through his bowels on monitor, similar to an ultrasound, to see if there is a true blockage. When they first started pushing the fluid it went everywhere. They had to pull the tube back out, readjust it, and change all the padding in the bed before they could try again. While they were changing the padding. I was holding Calvin above the bed. All the sudden, he filled my hand with a bunch of meconium. It was disgusting. Meconium is a baby's first poop and should be gone in a few days after birth. The radiologist told me that could have been the problem, and ran the test again just to be sure. It was the problem! No surgery, no trip to Utah in an ambulance, not even medication was needed anymore. I have never been so excited to be pooped on!

After that Calvin started flying through everything. He is 4 lbs 1 oz. He can now hold his own temperature and is out of the incubator. They are weening him of the oxygen, he is currently at 21% oxygen (room air) at 3/4 of a liter flow. So, he is only requiring a tiny bit of pressure on his lungs. He is getting enough nutrition through his feeding tube that he is off all IV fluid. I can feed him when he is awake and showing feeding cues. Last night he breastfed for the first time and took almost a whole feeding on his own. Today we get to bath him in an actual tub, and afterward I get to dress him for the first time. I am so excited.

I cannot thank you all enough for your thoughts, encouragement, and prayers. Calvin really is a little miracle baby. We are so in love with this tiny boy! Hopefully we are in the downhill side of this little adventure.










- Posted by Brianna