THE BIG MOVE

I think Ava gained 15 grams since yesterday but to be honest, I have no idea. Unlike me to not know the details, huh? I always call around 3am to get her stats and last night was no different. But, today, there was a lot going on and I just can't remember that 3am detail. An x-ray was done this morning to take a look at Ava's tummy again. Still no change, even with the new formula. What we noticed (and by "we" I mean the docs) is that she is full of air in her bowel right above the rectum. Basically, she needs to fart (A LOT) but for some reason can't seem to get it out. So, they had a surgeon come take a look at her this morning and a rectal biopsy was highly recommended. What they are looking for is nerve endings in the rectum which is what helps pass stool and air. Some kids don't have the nerve endings and therefore things back up like a bunch of train cars until too much builds up and pushes it out. It is called Hirschsprung's disease. When they did the barium enema yesterday, everything looked fine from that stand point. But, sometimes it doesn't pick up Hirschsprung's if it is very low in the rectum. It is a pretty simple fix if she does have that, although it is a surgery...but, one day at a time. Anyway, in order to do the biopsy, the surgeon wanted her back at Children's in the NICU. So, at 2pm today we took the long walk back through the tunnel and were admitted to Children's. They didn't give her her 2pm feeding because of the procedure and started an IV right away in case that was necessary. The doctor rounded (a new doc) and said that the surgeons would arrive at some point this afternoon for the procedure. I REALLY like this doctor, by the way. The surgeon came to her room at about 3:30 for the procedure and was done in about 10 minutes. They needed to take two small pieces of tissue from her bowel to do the biopsy. The part that they were taking the biopsy from has no sensory nerves so that would not hurt her but just messing around down there is probably uncomfortable. So, she was given a little morphine to help with any discomfort. She did great and we should know the results tomorrow, we hope. At the latest, Saturday. She was able to eat again at her 5pm cares and we switched her back to breast milk because that was clearly not the issue. She was rather sleepy after all this craziness and morphine so she is just resting. I guess we will just see what tomorrow brings! But, don't worry, she is just fine!