Yesterday was a long day. So long that I didn't blog or return any phone calls. The surgeon came in during his morning rounds and said BBZ looked great so he could start eating. The nurse came in later and gave us 2, 2 ounce bottles of Pedialyte and said that the surgeon put no
restrictions on his intake and he could eat however much he wanted. This seemed strange, but I figured he knew what he was talking about. BBZ ate both bottles very quickly and started screaming for more. The nurse brought us 2 more and I tried to wait a little while before giving the 3rd but BBZ was just so mad and hungry. So I gave him 2 more ounces. He held it down. The nurse came in a little later and gave me the go-ahead to bring him to the breast. I was happy to hear that, but leery
because I wouldn't know how much he got. I decided instead to pump and the give it to him in a bottle. He drank 5 ounces of
breast milk.
Then he was very upset. He cried a lot and complained and I laid him down to change his diaper. He rolled over on his side and got the same look on his face that he had 2 days ago. A very blank look, didn't suck his thumb and his belly was distended. I started to freak out. We called the nurse who called the doctor in, he later came and saw the same thing I was seeing. They hooked him up to a monitor to keep track of his vitals signs. The doctor said he probably just got too much too fast, but he might order an x-ray to make sure his stomach isn't in intussusception again. They left and I started to cry, pretty much uncontrollably. I felt like we were right back where we started 3 days ago. What is the next step now? Another painful enema, more surgery? I didn't know how much I or my little boy could take.
I needed to do something to feel better so I took a shower. It actually did wonders for me. I felt refreshed and while I was still scared, I realized that if something was wrong with his tummy, worst case scenario is anostomy bag. While the intussusception is life-threatening, where he is now with it is not. That was a big relief. N had gone to get lunch at Pappy's , which is simply the absolute best BBQ north of Memphis. Neither of us felt like eating, but I kind of talked us into it and it and we both felt much, much better.
During the above ordeal, we were standing around BBZ's hospital crib facing the door to the room. The surgeon was facing us with his back to the door. In walked this...
Now I realize that we are in a Children's Hospital so things such as large mascots walking around is to be expected. What I didn't expect was his absolute inability to read the social cues of the room that said "now is not a good time big headed baseball man". He waddled in with the big mustache smile and walked over and stood next to the surgeon. He peered at all of us waiting for a reaction. My eyes were full of tears and we must have all had very somber looks on our faces. He stood there for what felt like a really long time, then finally realized that no one was going to smile at him or even talk to him, so he turned around and waddled away. Looking back it was a pretty funny scene. I bet he tells the story of how awkward he felt as I am telling the story about how bad his timing was.
If the mascot had come by about 2 hours later it would have been perfect. BBZ woke up in a much better mood! I decided to give him breastmilk through a dropper at about 1-2 ounces an hour. He definitely wanted more, but he was satisfied getting this little bit at a time. I was angry at different intervals yesterday at the nurses, at the surgeon, but today I am going to focus on how well he is doing.
I got a good night sleep from about 9:30pm-4am then back to sleep until around 7am. He was awake for a while, ate some milk from the bottle and laid down for a nap around 9am. This really resembles his regular schedule, so maybe he is already getting back into it. I plan to try a bottle with him when he wakes up, but am trying to take my time. I want him to be eating from the breast before we head home. We have to stay here at least one more night, and hopefully will be heading home tomorrow! I hope that we will soon be able to put all of this behind us.
