Monday in the NICU

When we got to the NICU on Thursday, Braxton's abdomen was swollen to a huge 36cm, from his normal of around 31.5cm, and extremely red and tight. He was immediately put on a suction tube that slowly drew air and fluid out of his tummy. His white blood count also indicated an infection, so he was placed on a cocktail of antibiotics.

Slowly the infection and swollen abdomen have gone down. Yesterday the suction tube was removed, with a close eye kept on the abdomen circumference. Thankfully the circumference has remained steady around 32cm. Today Braxton is allowed to get 10ml of milk every three hours, and we'll continue to monitor his abdomen.

Every morning Braxton is getting xrays to check on the status of his colon. Yesterday, the dr told us that there had, in fact, been a blockage (probably a meconium plug) and that it was now gone. That now raises question as to whether or not Braxton even has this disease, called hirschsprung's. We have to continue down the path for surgery, assuming he does have it. But a biopsy will be done on the day of surgery, and that will determine whether or not we go ahead.

As I've been sitting here writing this, a team of nurses have been working on putting brain sensors on Braxton's scalp to monitor his brain activity. Braxton had been doing some unusual twitching with his arms and legs that had his nurse concerned. As of right now, we've been monitoring his brain for about 15 minutes, and the dr likes what he sees. The twitches are probably not seizures, and probably just Braxton moving through sleep cycles.