Day 45

Today's visit was not as positive as we were hoping it would be. Our little miss Alice has taken a couple of steps backwards.

On the positive side, her blood tests are all good - hemoglobin levels are good and so are her platelets.

The bad side is she has what they think is Necrotizing Enterocolities (NEC for short) - an inflammation of the bowel caused by an infection and poor blood flow. The reasons babies get NEC are not completely understood. The more premature the baby, the greater the risk. NEC is confirmed by an x-ray of the abdomen. Antibiotics are needed. The baby receives nothing by mouth for several days to give the bowel time to rest and heal.

Alice had an x-ray this morning as her tummy looked distended and there was quite a bit of air as well. She also has a green fluid that is coming up from her tummy as well. Her antibiotics that were started on Saturday have now been changed to the corrected ones for NEC. She is also on morphine as when she is being handled by the doctors, she appears to be in pain.

There was no cuddle today as she was a tired little girl and needs to have as much rest as possible. The plan is to have another x-ray tonight around 8pm. Results in around 10pm. Scott and I are going tomorrow to see how she is doing. Chances are no cuddles for the next few days until it's figured out what is wrong. If it is her tummy, she's probably in pain and doesn't want a cuddle anyway.

This is going to be a tough week.