Follow-Ups and Downturns

Thursday was an up-and-down and all around tiring day. We started with Matthew's 1:20 PM appointment with the nephrologist (kidney doctor) at UNC's pediatric outpatient clinic. This was a scheduled follow-up to see how the medication is working to control Matthew's high blood pressure. The appointment was scheduled by the folks up at the NICU before Matt was discharged. But the pediatric clinic didn't have us in the system so we had to wait until almost 3 to see the doctor. All ended well - his BP looks good on the current medication and there is nothing else to do until our next follow-up in 3 months (unless, of course, we contact them with any concerns or issues.).

Next we had to bring Matt to the eye doctor for his final check up for ROP (retinopathy of prematurity, an abnormal growth of blood vessels in the baby's eye). It came as a surprise to us that we had to take a hospital shuttle bus to the ophthalmologist because the eye care center is located in a different part of the campus. The exam itself takes 3 or 4 minutes, but it requires a bunch of eye drops and about 30 minutes of waiting for the eye drops to work. Matthew's eyes are fine, as far as ROP goes. Preemies have a greater than normal chance of having crossed-eyes or nearsightedness. We'll have to bring him to the eye doctor periodically so they can catch any problems early.

By the time we returned to the main hospital it was nearly 6 PM. Poor little Matthew had not eaten since around 12:30. But he didn't make a peep. He either loves sleeping in his car seat so much that he ignores hunger pangs, or he is still a little to young to fully express his hunger. Either way, dad and mom learned some valuable lessons:

1. Make sure to bring the nipples to the bottles. Babies can't drink straight from the bottle or through a straw.


2. Bring enough baby food (milk) to last 2 or 3 times longer than what you had planned.

The day's stress started while we were in the car driving to the hospital. The resident called to inform us that James had been throwing up and his belly was distended. He was crying a lot and visibly uncomfortable. The x-ray showed air in his bowels (not in the lining, just in the bowels as if he had a very bad case of gas). They started him on antibiotics to prevent infection and they took a blood culture to see if he has a blood infection. We won't know the results for 48 hours or if the results show an infection, whichever comes first. (If there is an infection, it's fairly easily treated with antibiotics.) They do not think this is a return of NEC (necrotizing enterocolitis). The surgeons don't think there is a physical obstruction (during surgery, they were able to examine all of his intestines and didn't find anything else, and they think it would be too soon for any new obstructions to have developed). And it may be that the rapid increase in the size of his feedings since yesterday morning was just too much for him to handle all at once (although the doctor seemed to think it was something more than this). In any event, we're back in a period of waiting and hoping for the best.