Ben was born (extracted) on September 5th 2008. Perfectly healthy at 9lbs 13 oz. Within 28 hours however, he hadn't pooped and was constantly puking (first brownish redish stuff then bile green). We were told this was somewhat normal with C-Sections. When he puked 4 times in 10 minutes, turned totally red except for this hands and feet which were purple, and his whole body went rigid in pain, we called the nurse and took him immediately to the nursery for observation. Soon he was moved into the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) and they took some X-Rays. The doctors discovered that Ben had blockages in his intestine that needed to be removed as they were not allowing anything past, thus resulting in the stomach "giving back" through the mouth. They performed a Berinum Enema in conjunstion with a scanner to see where the blockages were and if they were at the beginning of the intestine (stomach) or at the end. Well, they found blockages at the end and it appeared to be Miconium (black baby poop) causing it. But they also were concerned why the intestine hadn't pushed it through like it normal should. Anyway, they performed an inital Saline Enema and recieved a foot diameter, one inch deep amount of crap in an instant. After that his color returned to normal almost immediately and he seemed much more relaxed. That all happened on Saturday evening September 6th. They kept Ben in the NICU under observation and performed enemas at regular intervals (called irrigations) of 12 hours. During this time, he was allowed to nurse, which he would do readily enough but after about 5 or 10 minutes would fall asleep. The doctor performed a biopsy on Monday or Tuesday... or maybe Sunday. The biopsy consisted of taking a small sample of Ben's intestine to test for a intestinal irregularity called Hirschsprung's Disease. They considered the chance of having the disease small but they wanted to be sure. Sure enough, on Tuesday or Wednesday, they came back with the news that he tested positive for the disease. A surgery would be performed on Friday September 12th at 8:30am to correct the problem. Best case scenario: a small section would have to be removed (luckily this disease starts from the bottom and goes up, making it relatively easy to find the good part of the intestine) and then the functioning porton attached to the rectum and that's it, relatively speaking. So Ben went into surgery on Friday and after 3 to 4 hours the doctor came back saying the best of all outcomes came to fruition. They removed a 6 to 7 inch section of intestine and attach the function part (known as a pull-down) to the rectum. Ben has been recovering nicely. As of writing this, he is still on an IV for nutrition. The doctor was supposed to drop by and OK feeding via nursing or bottle on Sunday, but didn't get a chance to. However, Ben was awake most of Sunday and was very disappointed when his gaping mouth was never filled. Hopefully, if he is allowed to eat today and poops on a regular basis, we will have him home Wednesday or soon after.
Thanks for all your prayers. We feel immensly blessed, even though Ben had this issue. There are a lot of babies in the NICU much worse off. It could have been a heart or lung issue or somethig worse. In the end, Ben just had trouble pooping.
I'll try to get some more pictures up later today.
