They are back to feeding him!  They are starting him with just a little (4 Cc’s), but it is great that they have started feeding him again.  The neonatologists don’t see anything wrong with the tests and x-rays.  So, they are going to see what happens if they give him milk.  There are a number of positives to that, but two of them in particular are that (1) he may be able to avoid surgery and (2) he’s lost his feeding tube.  Campbell is enjoying drinking from a bottle, and is also a little bigger than an Ipad Mini these days, as you can see from the pictures below.

The news today was not as good.  We are back to thinking that surgery is an option again.  Hopefully, it won’t happen, but we met with the surgeon today because she thinks there might be a stricture.  We are hopeful that she’s just being an aggressive surgeon (the neonatologist didn’t think there was the same distension or anything).  The little guy is still getting fat, which is good, and he is acting happy, which is also a good sign.

They are going to do some additional tests in the next couple days to figure out why he’s not digesting and why the contrast that they put in from the previous test seems to be moving too slowly.

He has gotten awfully good at holding his pacifier (not sure that’s really the point, but he’s good at holding it):

And, he actually does suck on it, which will be great once he eats (soon!):

We got some good news today!  It looks like Campbell doesn’t have a stricture or any kind of obstruction.  They’re going to give the contrast a couple of days to clear out of his system, and they will keep following it out with x-rays, but we don’t expect to find anything.  They did find some reflux, so when they start trying to feed him again, they will probably give him some medicine for that – Pepcid or Prilosec, probably.

Also, one of the urine cultures came back positive for a kind of bacteria.  Basically he has a UTI, but the doctors say that that could be what’s causing his digestion issues.  So they started him on antibiotics and retested him, but we’ll have to wait a few days on the last culture to see if it will grow anything.

So, they won’t feed him for a couple more days at least – the contrast needs to all be out of his system, but hopefully they will start trying to feed him milk again after that.

He’s otherwise doing well – he’s pretty much doubled his birth weight.  He now weighs 1960 grams, and he was 981 at birth.  So he’s over 4 pounds and 5 ounces, now.  He’s huge!  🙂

Here are some cute pictures from today:

Mason and I had a nice Easter visit with Campbell this afternoon.  Dad read Campbell his first book – The Pokey Little Puppy,

Took a nap with Campbell,

and dad let him try on his first baseball cap:

It was really huge on him, but that’s at least in part because Mason’s head is huge (and not just in size 🙂 ).

On the medical side, there’s not much change.  We’re hoping to have the upper GI today to see whether there are any strictures and whether Campbell will need surgery.  He has gained another 50 grams, though, putting him up to 1900 grams, which is 4 pounds, 3 ounces.  You can definitely see it here in his cheeks :).

Campbell didn’t have the Upper GI today because he still has contrast in his system from the Lower GI study.  They’ll try again for Monday.  He’s otherwise looking good, and the biggest news to report is that last night when they weighed him, he was 1850 grams, which is 4 pounds 1 1/4 ounces!  He’s over 4 pounds!  You can get a perspective here on size with dad’s thumb next to his ear.

Dad is becoming quite the expert at getting cute pictures of Campbell.

Today there isn’t much to report.  He’s still not getting any milk, and they’re going to try to do an upper GI on him tomorrow if the contrast has all cleared his system.  He’s looking pretty good other than the fact that he isn’t eating or digesting.  But hopefully, he is just getting a slow start.

He’s also looking pretty chubby, which one of the nurses mentioned right after saying that he looked exactly like Mason.  Mason tried not to take it as a comment that he needs to lose a few pounds…

Mom and Campbell got to kangaroo again, and dad got a couple of cute pictures:

Well, Campbell unfortunately had to have a barium enema and a blood transfusion (26 ccs this time) today, but we got good news!  The test showed that there weren’t any strictures or partial obstructions, so that’s great.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t entirely rule out that there could still be a blockage, so the doctors will probably do an upper GI test in a couple of days to make sure there isn’t anything to worry about higher up the digestive tract.

Mom and Campbell had a nice visit after the procedure – he was really a trooper today.

Also, Campbell is still gaining height and weight.  He’s 13 pounds 15 1/2 ounces – I can’t believe he’s almost 4 pounds already!  His head circumference has increased to 30 cm, and he’s now 16 1/4 inches long!  You can see that he’s already almost outgrown his “Einstein” hat.

Well, I’d like to say it’s an April Fool’s prank, but unfortunately it isn’t.  Campbell had a rough day.  He didn’t digest even the reduced amount of milk overnight – he had even more residual than milk – so this morning they told us that they’ve stopped his feedings.  He did have a suppository and a nice accompanying “deposit,” but he’s still not digesting well.  And, he got a shot of lasix to help with fluid retention, so hopefully that will make him feel better.

The doctors are trying to figure out why he isn’t digesting.  He could just be getting a slow start, but they want to rule out infection and other possibilities, such as a stricture in his intestines or a partial obstruction.  So, they did a lot of labs on him (poor guy had to get stuck and have a catheter momentarily inserted to get a sterile urine sample).  So far everything has come back normal, which is good.  They also go the cardiologist to look at his heart using an ultrasound machine.  She said he looked great and that the PDA was closed and that there were no signs of infection, so that’s good.

Unfortunately, though, they’ve decided that the need to do a lower GI (barium enema) on him tomorrow to see if there are any partial blockages in his intestines.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed that he doesn’t have any blockages because that would mean that he would need to have surgery to remove the blockages.

Here’s a pic of Campbell with mom today.  (I’ll note that it’s remarkably hard to get a picture when you’re there by yourself).

Well, today, Campbell is still not digesting very well.  He’s had a lot of residual, so they reduced him to 6ccs, and we’ll see if that works any better.   He may also need a suppository (fun, fun) to get his digestive system working better, so fingers crossed that that will help things.

Mom and Campbell did have a nice chance to snuggle today, though:

And, he’s growing!  Up to 1730 grams, which is about 3 pounds, 13 ounces.  I think some of it may be fluid retention, but he’s still getting really big!