Dodged Another Bullet

Scarlet is doing fine, but has sure given us a scare! This last week, we have noticed she was having painful bowel movements - I mean, we would change her diaper and she would scream bloody murder while seemingly holding it in - only little squirts would come out! I also started noticing that she was throwing up every time we gave her her medicine that they started her on in NICU and we had to continue at home. It is called reglin and it is for reflux - when the baby can't keep down her food and needs to be at a constant inclince, which she is. So, we called her doctor and she said it sounds like she is having a reaction to the reglin - stop giving it to her. Then, two nights ago, we called the advice line because we went through another bloody murder screaming episode changing her diaper while she let out squirts and then she had some projectile vomiting (all down mommy's shirt) three times. They said bring her in.

Naturally, I began sobbing while packing her up into the car. I was scared to death they were going to admit her.

The doctor in pediatrics urgent care told us we needed to see a specialist the next day to check her intestinal track. After many phone calls Friday morning, trying to get the right appointments, we managed to get in. There were 2 tests she needed to have done - both of which sounded horrible with surgery as the course of action if they came out bad. We were at Kaiser for 5 hours on Friday and 7 hours (with an hour break) on Saturday. On Friday, they did an ultrasound. They were looking to see if the muscle at the end of her stomach was growing too thick - It's not; she's fine. This was a big sigh of relief because they would have admitted her immediately for surgery if she wasn't.

Then, Saturday, we had to feed her at 6:00am and then bring her in - They wanted her stomach to be empty by the time they started the test at 8:45/9:00am. We were scared she would be screaming her head off because of hunger, but at that point, she was ok.

I stayed in the x-ray room with her and helped hold her still while they took pictures. They then gave her a drink of barium and sugar water. The barium is a liquid that shows up on x-rays so they can see where it goes. This way, they know if her intestinal track is working ok. I wish I had the sense of mind to take pictures myself earlier because we could literally see they stuff going into her mouth, down her throat, in through her stomach, and all the way through the system. The first images were the best because you could see her jaw and throat, but I at least got the 2 below.

She's screaming her because it is towards the end of the day and she was very hungry. We were able to feed her after the barium drink, whenever we wanted. However, it wore her out so much that she kept sleeping. She only really woke up when we put her on the x-ray table at 3:45pm (Mind you, we started at 8:30am - We are all very tired!).
This is why it took so long - This is the last picture the doctor was looking for - to see that it passed through her colon, and it did (Again, another sigh of relief - she's ok, otherwise they would have immediately admitted her for surgery):
This is more of a frontal view of her tummy. The bright white is the barium in her large intestines.
This is right after the last x-ray pictures - Now that she was really awake, she was starving!
And her she is on our way out to the car - she can now hold the pacifier herself.

So, the results? She is totally fine (from what we have been told so far.) She has NO reflux - like they told us in NICU and even sent her home with drugs for... but never tested. What the doctor who did the exam thinks is we need to feed her less quantity more often. Her stomach is stretching to take in a lot of food, but she is taking a long time to digest it and can't handle large amounts. She also has a lot of gas (and I know I have something to do with it - no more broccoli!) Plus, she had a diaper rash, which has mostly cleared after using desitin. With preemies, the skin is super senstive. So, we can't use diaper wipes (even though they are much more convenient). We have to use cotton or toilet paper and water - and now desitin. We will get more information next week from her doctor. Until then, she's overeating, has bad gas, and has a diaper rash. Oye!