Today . . .

He looks more pale in these pictures than he actually is. They just came out kind of dark and I lightened them. He actually has a better tan than mommy and daddy!

So we are looking good today, they haven't made many changes. The resident just came and spoke to me and they are officially calling his belly problems NEC but they are really not too worried about it at this point. His bowel just basically isn't working correctly, there is a pocket of air in his bowel that hasn't moved in a few days and all they can really do at this point is continue to treat the bacteria (Klebsiella) causing the abnormal bowel function with the antibiotics and keep an eye on it's progression. His blood cultures from the 24th and the 27th are still negative, so that's a really good sign. There are some very serious problems that NEC can cause, but at this point it doesn't seem to be getting any worse, and it wasn't very bad to begin with, but they will be keeping a very close eye on it. They will be doing x-rays everyday until the obstruction is gone. He is in his 6th day of the 2 week antibiotic treatment, and he is also on an anti-fungal as a preventative measure. He wont be getting fed at all during the antibiotic treatment, so they are going to increase the amount of calories, specifically glucose, in his Glorified Gatorade, as the nurses call it. He is also going to continue getting his lipids and fats. Even without the dopamine, he has continued to have a good urine output and tomorrow they'll be checking his kidneys and liver to make sure everything is ok. Being on the Glorified Gatorade over extremely long periods of time can potentially cause serious long term problems with the liver, but this is usually only after several months. They just want to check for certain enzymes that will tell if there is any damage being done, just to be safe. He wasn't weighed last night, so they'll do it today at about 4 p.m. and I'll be sure to update then.