Patience

This long weekend has been an anxious one for us. Henry has been very uncomfortable since his G-tube surgery. He was irritable Saturday after having to wait over 37 hours between meals, and his first one was only a half of feed at that. He downed the first bottle we gave him as well as his second one. Once we got to full 100 ml feeds, he started to only take half, which was about what he had been doing before surgery.

On Sunday the doctors gave the okay to give Henry his four month vaccinations. Shortly before we gave them, he started becoming very upset. He was crying - screaming at times - and it took us a long time to console him. We gave him some oxycodone and he handled his shots very well. We left to visit family, only to come back to an upset baby.

We took turns holding Henry until midnight. He had had some blood in his diaper, which we were warned may happen since he did have stomach surgery. Doctors at night seemed okay with it, and ordered a KUB (abdominal X-ray) to clear out pneumotosis. He didn't have any more blood in his stools the rest of the night and most of Monday.

On Monday, Henry was finally moved back up to the transitional floor. This was the first time he has been out of the PICU since the first week of February. Shortly after arriving, he had another diaper with flecks of blood in it. We saw several doctors coming in and out and were asked lots of questions. We reiterated the fact that we were warned this would happen. We even specifically asked about the blood in the diapers he had last week during the Care Conference on Friday, and no one was concerned. The doctors for now have decided to "do nothing". 

We are anxious to be home but so worried about having a setback. In the four days from Friday through Monday, Henry has had abdominal surgery, gone a day and a half without eating, started getting food through a hole in is stomach, received four vaccines in his two little legs, and had his daily amount of methadone cut in half. We have tried hard to remind ourselves that this is enough to make anyone upset, and on top of it all, he's not even five months old - for all we know, he could be starting to cut teeth!! We are still hopeful to bring Henry home this weekend, but always  appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers.