Brennan's NEC miracle!

Brennan has joined his little bro at U of M yesterday, just a couple floors up! Saturday after his 5:30pm feed he spit up and we didn't think anything of it. 8:30pm feed took all of it just fine! 11:30pm spit up again, this time bright yellow. Called the nurse line to check it out and they told us to just make sure he burped and keep him upright for 45min after feed. If he continues the next day, probably take him in. They didn't seem concerned at all. He was acting hungry so he nursed again at 1:30am thinking maybe it was a formula issue, but spit up again after. He ate again at 3am, spit up 5min later and we put him back to bed in the swing. At 4:30 he threw up and then at 4:30 threw up more. At that point we tried to call the nurse line back, but didn't want to pay the fee again and decided to just take him to the ER. Hey our deductible was met Jan 1, so it wouldn't cost anything! They weren't quite sure what was going on. Nich mentioned he had NEC (Necrotizing Enterocolitis) before so they took an xray (see his reaction below!) and found an obstruction in his bowel, and it looks like NEC again. So glad Nich spoke up! That's definitely one thing this process has taught us. It's our care, we need to speak up and understand what's going on!

Nich thinks it looks like he's riding the Mantis at Cedar Point! :)

After finding the obstruction, they transferred him to U of M's ER by ambulance. He kept throwing up at both hospitals and in the ambulance on the drive. At U of M, they put a Ropogo (really light vacuum tube - think gentler than Mr Thirsty at the dentist) into his stomach to pull out the contents before he could throw it up. Also took him down for a barium GI study to more accurately find the obstruction (stricture). Yesterday he got xrays every couple hours so they could keep an eye on his bowel track. He got started on TPN and lipids (IV nutrition & fat) as he still isn't eating. We were waiting for a surgery date (possibly Tuesday or Wednesday), but just as I was typing this Nich called and said the surgery team feels like the obstruction is resolving itself! Right now they're thinking he won't need surgery! The same thing happened to Landon when he got really sick last month, NEC resolved itself!

God is amazing! These babies have taught us to have faith and never lose hope. Yesterday, I felt like things couldn't get much worse - all my kids are in different places and I am longing for our family to be together! This is huge news for Brennan! Hopefully he'll be home soon! He is lined up for a eye surgery consult (was supposed to be tomorrow at Beaumont, but he's not going anywhere!). He has scarring from his last ROP surgery that is pulling on his retina. God is so good! We just have to keep faith! We'll keep you posted, as always! Thanks for your continued prayers for our family! It's what keeps us keeping on!

Also, 5 month post coming - our computer got a virus and now it won't connect to the internet so have to find other time to post, but knew this one comes first! :)