A Busy Day for the Little Guy

Allie and I just returned from San Antonio and another visit with JW.  Monday was pretty uneventful, which is great!  The nurses did inform us that they found a little blood in his stool and sent a culture off for testing.  He was at 4lbs. 9 oz and on full feeds up to this point (all breastmilk, no IV fluids).  Although, not yet knowing what was causing the bloody stool, they took him off all milk and put him back on fluids.  They also drained his stomach contents and started him on antibiotics to get a jump on whatever was causing the issue.  Poor little fella now has two IV's in his head...one of each side so his hands and feet can have a rest.  Allie and I spent about an hour with him and then I headed to the waiting room so David could go in and see him.  Of course, JW was sleeping the whole time I was in with him...refused to open his eyes and would make the funniest, grouchy faces when Allie would touch him and try to wake him up a little.  However, as soon as David went in the little toot opened his eyes!  Below are pics from Monday.

Making funny faces...couldn't tell if he was smiling or mad but it was too cute!

Sleeping so peacefully.

On Tuesday morning Allie received a call from the doctor with the results of the culture from Monday.  It turns out JW has two different issues going on.  The first, is a bacterial infection which they believe resulted from his being on antibiotics (all the good bacteria was killed off and the bad, resistant bacteria was left behind).  This infection then caused another issue, necrotising enterocolitis, which is inflammation of the intestines and can lead to part of the intestine dying or rupturing and in those cases requires surgery.  Here is a link to more info. if you are interested:  http://www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/gosh_families/information_sheets/necrotising_enterocolitis/necrotising_enterocolitis_families.html

He is on multiple types of antibiotics and IV fluids.  We should know more once the antibiotics rounds are complete in 7-14 days.  When we arrived at the NICU there was a bright pink sign on JW's crib informing us if we were to handle him in any way we had to wear gloves and an additional gown.  So basically, he is sort of quarantined.  The infection he has is very contagious and it was important to protect ourselves and the other infants from contracting it.  

Tuesday, was all around, an exciting and busy day for JW.  I was blessed to have a front row seat in one of his physical therapy sessions and when Allie got to change a diaper.  Right now, the doctors, therapist, and radiologist are concerned about the possibility that JW's hips are dislocated.  We won't know for sure for at least a few more days as they are more concerned with treating his infections.  He does have trouble moving his legs and they think this may be why.  If you are up close to him, you will notice that his little feet and legs are slightly cock-eyed and tight.  The therapist told us that if his hips are dislocated, it was probably caused because of his muscle tightness...in essence his tight muscles could have pulled his hips out of joint.  So, when Allie changed the diaper they had to lift his whole body, not his legs, like you would normally do when changing an infant, just as a precaution.  Also, during therapy they had to move his knee and foot/ankle while being careful not to move his hip too much.  Right now Allie and the therapist are working on helping JW to relax his muscles.  He really likes to clench his fists.  Also, he is tighter on his right side than his left.  He was just moving his left arm up and down, no problem, but it was a little more difficult on the right.  Same thing with his legs and feet.  Below are some pictures I snapped during therapy.  Allie got to hold him to work with his hands and arms and then he was placed back in his crib for leg work.  One other thing we noticed, was how much more JW's mouth is moving...hopefully that is a good sign that he will soon begin sucking.  It sure looked like a mini sucking reflex to me!

It was so amazing to be present for so many little, but unbelievably special moments.  How grateful and blessed am I?!?  To see how big JW is, how far he has come, and how precious he is...words cannot express.  By the way, as of Tuesday he was up to 4 lbs. 11 oz.!!!  And he is officially a month old now.  He truly is a miracle.  I thank the Lord for him every day.  Keep those prayers coming.  I hope you can see how they have been at work in this little boy's life!  

~JW's Aunt Lindy

Monitoring JW's vitals after taking him out of his crib to do therapy.

I just love that the mommies get to assist with therapy...what better therapy than being in mom's arms!

Working with his tiny hands...relaxation is the key!

Allie is doing therapy with his arms...moving them up, down, out to the side...too precious.

Back in the crib to warm back up and do leg therapy.

Finally!  Awake....maybe?  See that left arm moving!

Changing his tiny diaper.

Now its time for leg therapy.

A little more awake now.  What a sweet little miracle lying in front of me!