Finley's roller coaster

Hello everyone! Well, it was a rough week for our super hero. At the moment, our little Fin is on the upswing but a big scare last week took us back a bit. Things were progressing nicely until a week ago Friday when he had some blood in his stool. Given the fact that many omphalocele babies have GI issues, this may or may not be alarming, however, at the time there were several other babies with blood in their stool and a couple of cases of NEC (Necrotizing Enterocolitis) in the NICU. NEC is an extremely serious condition in which poor blood flow to the intestine causes the tissue to die, bacteria builds up and the intestine can perforate, spilling infection into the body. The docs decided to err on the side of caution and treat Fin aggressively. They immediately stopped his feeds, put him back on TPN, ordered xrays and began 4 different antibiotics. His entire world turned upside down within an hour! He was moved back into a warmer bed and IV lines were placed in both arms - he was NOT happy! The xrays were difficult to read given his anatomy and the neonatologists, radiologists and pediatric surgeons couldn't quite agree on whether or not he had NEC. Rick and I were scared out of our minds! We had a very rough weekend, Fin's blood pressure was sky high, the IV fluids gave him edema and he was generally just very upset! Then, they ran a cranial ultrasound to try to figure out why his blood pressure was so high, as they knew it was not his kidney since they had run every test in the book and determined that his kidney functions incredibly well. The ultrasound showed some excess fluid on his brain. They didn't warrant this an emergency but they wanted to do an MRI. Things just kept piling on for our sweet boy! Luckily, by the next day, the doctor felt that an MRI was unnecessary since the fluid was minimal and we know that he was not born with fluid on his brain. Since then, the fluid has gone down and we just continue to monitor his little head. So, after all that panicking, crying and stressing, we are much better!  

One bright spot through all of this is that Fin is off all oxygen support and doing very well!  One less thing hanging off his body and taped to his face!  We started his milk again on Saturday and so far he is tolerating nicely. Antibiotics finished last Friday, his blood pressure is better, edema is gone and his his little soft spot is much softer. His last xrays and labs were clear and we are back on track. His bowels are slowly moving again and so far, no blood. This ordeal was a pretty big setback for us in terms of finally getting our little man out of here, but we are just so relieved that it was not more serious!  

The big challenge now is feeding. In many ways we are starting over and our Fin is very cautious about swallowing his milk. We need to get him to the point where he takes all of his milk by mouth whether that be breast milk through a bottle or straight from the source. After all he's been through and having had some type of tube down his throat since the day he was born, it's a wonder he swallows at all so we give him lots of credit!  

Rick and I continue to be amazed by our little boy and we will continue to be as patient as Fin needs us to be. He is so very strong and we know without a doubt that we will get through this and that we will bring him home at some point.  Go Finley!  

Thanks as always for all the love, support, prayers and well wishes... It really does make a positive difference!

Love to all, xoxoxo Finley, Daria & Rick