Back on the Roller Coaster

They continued to try James on feedings today, this time dropping the amount down to 1 ml. He had a bad reaction to it (had a big breathing and heart slowdown). They did an X-ray, and saw some air in his intestines (an ilius). This isn't the kind of pattern that suggests NEC or a perforation (thank goodness), but rather it seems to be more like gas, similar to the kind of air that can get trapped in the intestines after abdominal surgery. (I had a little of this after the c-section, and hopefully he doesn't have referred pain in his shoulder like I did -- that was no fun!) It's uncomfortable and it stops food from moving through the way it should, but we don't have the impression that it's a serious or dangerous problem per se. They've put a tube in his stomach to try to remove some of the air, and they'll keep an eye on him and see if that helps. Hopefully it will do the trick; he seemed to be fairly stable with his breathing and heartrate when we left, but if he starts having more respiratory problems, it could be a sign of an infection and he may have to go back on antibiotics. So, we are a bit worried, but at this point we'll just have to wait and see.