Gator Babies

Uncle Isaac left just a little bit too soon -- we came in today to find that the babies had some brand new hats! (Thanks, Nurse J!) Matthew is the top picture (with a pacifier in his mouth), and James is the bottom one.

James had his GI study today. He had to have basically an enema with contrast material, but they couldn't get the solution to go up very far (despite trying four times, poor kid), which maybe means that the blockage is down fairly low in his intestines. (Apparently this is a bit of an unusual location for a stricture.) The doctors are going to consult with the radiologists and surgeons and make a plan, but it sounds like it will most likely be surgery (where they remove the narrowed part and reattach the bowels together.)

At the 8 o'clock diaper change, James had a fairly good-sized poop. I don't know if there's any chance that the contrast material was just blocked by some poop that was stuck in there, but it makes me hold out the tiniest bit of hope that maybe the blockage was something other than a stricture. (We'll probably know more tomorrow when we get the full report on the GI study.)

Matthew also got to meet some specialists today. They had speech pathology come in and take a look at his feeding. (They're the ones that handle sucking and swallowing issues.) This was a surprise to us, because we thought he'd been doing really well, but apparently he isn't always as coordinated with his sucking as they'd like to see at this age. We didn't actually talk to the speech pathologist, so we don't know what the recommendations will be, but it might be things like trying different nipples on the bottle or some kind of techniques to help him practice his skills. (I was kind of upset at first that they were disparaging my baby's performance, but I guess anything that helps him get ready to come home is good!)

Added by Mike: To counteract any damage done by wearing a Gator hat, we dressed Matthew in his OSU Frat Boy outfit. Thanks Audrey!