Better Afternoon

James's morning X-ray was reassuring to the doctors; they actually thought it looked better than one they had taken last week. He still had some dilated bowel loops (which is unfortunately usual for him), but they weren't as dilated. So they restarted his feedings around 10:30 AM. We were there in the afternoon and stayed until about 5 PM, and he seemed to be doing pretty well -- no more spit-up, and he mostly seemed comfortable when I was holding him. (He had a couple times of squirming and acting like he was pushing, but I never know how to interpret that -- sometimes it seems to be a sign that he's not tolerating the feeding, but on the other hand, Matthew does that kind of thing all the time, so a little bit of it is probably normal.) I don't know if he had any more poop, but there were also a couple instances of a distinctive odor wafting up, so I'm guessing there was some kind of action down there!

So, we'll see how the evening goes -- the 8:30 PM report from his nurse was that he was doing well (and had some stool).

Early next week, we'll be having a meeting with the surgeons and the neonatal team to talk about the plan for him. (The basic plan of having his reattachment surgery will be the same, but there may be other treatments that emerge or ideas about how to help his motility issues, and this way we can also make sure that everyone is on the same page going forward.) Unfortunately, the surgeon that did his first intestinal surgery is leaving for another hospital, but hopefully either he or the resident who assisted him will be able to come to the meeting.

We took Matthew's stroller in when we went to the hospital (we have a fold-up one that his car seat snaps into), and it was more convenient than just lugging the car seat -- and it doesn't seem take up too much more space in the room. And on our way home, we stopped for dinner at a Mexican restaurant (we had the place practically to ourselves -- if it had been crowded we probably would have passed), and Matthew slept like a little angel in his carseat.