NICU Shuffle

This is a dance step that we have come to know very well...2 steps forward, 1 step back. It seems that it is time to take our 1 step back.

Yesterday, McKenna's milk was upped again and she tolerated all of the milk all night. During the day, the nurse was checking her belly to make sure she didn't have any milk left over in her tummy and pulled out greenish bile/stool looking YUCK. It seems that she is able to digest all of the milk we can give her, but her intestines aren't moving things out. So, since McKenna's body has thrown them a curveball they were able to make the change immediately which is always better than catching something later on. The medical name for this illness is "Ileus". The definition of ileus is a partial or complete non-mechanical blockage of the small and/or large intestine. Ileus or paralytic ileus, occurs because peristalsis stops. Peristalsis is the rhythmic contraction that moves material through the bowel. Ileus is most often associated with an infection of the peritoneum (the membrane lining the abdomen). It is one of the major causes of bowel obstruction in infants and children.

What they have done to help her...They have taken her off of mommy's milk for at least 72 hrs, maybe a week, to stop anything else from going into her intestines, upped her IV nutrition which in turn ups her Insulin to keep her blood sugar under control. Started her on Antibiotics to keep infections away, and put a tube down her throat into her tummy to suck out all the yuck that is backing up.

Please pray that McKenna's body can get this plumbing problem figured out and we can take another 2 steps forward (our favorite part of the dance).