It has been quite an adventure since having little Walter. It has been hard on all the kids, but they have been awesome. A sum up-Walter was life flighted the night of his birth to a higher level NICU due to breathing struggles. He turned out to have fluid in his lungs as well which turned to pnemonia-which possibly came from Strep B. That night he was put on several different ventilation items. In the process somewhere his stomach got filled with air with a misplaced ventilator This caused his belly to be quite large and distended. I was quite concerned that it was still distended when he left the NICU 2 weeks later. They said it would resolve itself via gas and poop. After 2 weeks of it not resolving and him seeming constipated and then every 2-3 days having explosive, and I mean explosive, poops, and 3 visits to his pediatrician about it, the pediatrician ordered x-rays and a kidney ultrasound. That was on a Monday. Tuesday the pediatrician said there was major blockage and it was putting pressure on the kidneys as well. To rule out Hirschprungs disease, which is in Jon's family and we were worried that it might be what was going on, he ordered an enema procedure where they veiw the colon under an xray. The technician was pretty positive that Walter had it. We got a call about 2 hours after the procedure from our pediatrician letting us know that Walter needed to head up to Primary Children's Hospital to have a biopsy and then likely surgery. They wanted us to head up that evening and get him admitted and on an IV, ready for the biopsy in the morning. The biopsy results take 24-48 hours to confirm. The results came back Friday afternoon-the results were positive-he has Hirschsprungs Disease. They scheduled the surgery for the following Tuesday and were going to send us home, but because of the regular vitals taken while at the hospital, they discovered that Walter had high blood pressure. That could be due to the pressure of the abdomen on the kidneys and pain. But they wanted to run some tests and make sure that there wasn't something else going on. We ended up staying until Sunday afternoon. They didn't find anything else that was really concerning. We got to go home for 2 nights before coming back. So many family members fasted for him and so many family and friends were praying for him. He did really well the day of the surgery-I was amazed that he stayed calm the whole day. His surgery wasn't until that afternoon and he couldn't nurse after 8. He did get some pedialyte at 11, but that was it. I expected him to be super fussy and wanting to eat for the rest of the day. Instead he was totally calm. I realized that he was really being helped through the prayers and fasting for him. They were delayed in surgery so he wasn't taken back until 4:30. At 9pm the Dr came out and let us know that the surgery went really well and that we would be able to go back and see him soon. I was so anxious to see my sweet baby. When we went back he was crying such a sad weak, full of misery cry. It was so heartbreaking to see him in such pain. I just held him and hurt for him. He looked up at me and it was so hard to not be able to do anything to make him feel better but hold him. My poor baby. We are still at the hospital recovering. He is doing well overall and we hope to be going home soon.
My other kids have been awesome through all this. They have had to do a lot on their own and take charge of a lot of things. I have been away from them quite a bit. They have visited here once when we were here last week and then once this week. If we end up spending tonight, they will come again this evening. My poor little Isabelle went from being my baby to not only being replaced as the baby, but being away from her mom a lot. It has been very hard on her. Jon brought her over a couple of days ago and she was so cute and sweet. I love her little hands and I love to hold them and hold and hug her.
The older kids were looking so forward to having their little brother and helped prepare for him, pick out cute outfits and get his room ready. Little did we know that he wouldn't be home much to enjoy those things for the first couple months of his life. He won't fit into some of the cute outfits the kids picked out before he was born. He will be 7 weeks old tomorrow and he spent the first 2 weeks in the NICU and we have been at Primary Childrens Hospital for 10 days so far. I hope we get to go home soon (possibly today).
Jon comes to visit each day. Walter loves his dad so much. He loves his voice-it is very calming to him. I think part of the reason it is so calming is because Jon was with Walter at the NICU and talked to him and read to him quite a bit. I didn't get to hold and nurse him until he was 6 days old. So all he got before that was us talking to him, singing to him, reading to him, and holding his tiny hand and rubbing his head.
While Jon was here the other day, the kids decided to surprise him and cleaned the whole house, including shining the bathrooms. They are such thoughtful kids. They are great helpers and are very responsible. They are
