Breathing Tube and Feeds

This week has been somewhat uneventful but Micah hasn't been progressing as smoothly as we'd like. Micah, who hasn't had any food in his stomach for over two weeks, was reintroduced to breast milk on Monday via feeding tube directly to his belly. They started him at 1mL/hr. He seemed to be tolerating it so they increased it to 2mL/hr on Tuesday. 

The doctors stopped feeding him by Tuesday night because his intestinal NIRS (his NIRS monitors oxygen saturation of his brain, kidneys and intestines) were steadily declining. By this morning, Micah was a dusky gray color, he still hadn't had a stool, and his NIRS were low enough to cause concern among the nurses and doctors.

They ordered an x-ray of his intestines and planned to give Micah a suppository. Thankfully, the x-ray was normal and by the time the doctors notified us, Micah had pooped (before they gave him the suppository; and there was no blood!) and his intestinal NIRS we're picking up good oxygenation.

The doctors concluded that Micah wasn't tolerating his feeds and that they'd have to approach it much more slowly over the next few days.

Separately, we're having trouble weaning him from the breathing tube. Micah was on versed (pronounced ver-said) and morphine for anxiety and pain relief. In order to wean him from those drugs, they used methadone and ativan to help with his withdrawals. Now he's only on methadone and ativan, but both of those drugs make him too relaxed to breath above his vent. For example, the vent gives him 15 breaths per minute, and the doctors expect Micah to take an additional 15 breaths, however, Micah is not taking any additional breaths. And now he's going into withdrawal from the ativan and methadone! The doctors are still trying to find a good balance between relaxation and independent breathing...

Also, Dylan and I have come down with some sort of illness. Dylan came home from daycare today with a crazy fever, a cough, and a swollen/oozy eye. I just have a sore throat and a bad headache. I hate to be sick because I don't want to pass anything to Micah :( I've heard it before and I'll go ahead and repeat it; parents shouldn't be allowed to get sick.

Anyways, keep praying for us!

PS: This is a special thank you to everyone who has brought us a meal. You have no idea how much of a time saver it's been in the evenings and the left overs are perfect for lunch at the hospital. So THANK YOU! :)

PPS: Please pray for our small friend Caleb who will be going into surgery tomorrow.