Walker has NEC
That's right. Well, I guess he had it and has since had surgery. NEC was my biggest worried from the start. After getting discharged I started researching about preemies and found myself almost hyperventilating when reading about it.
Walker was doing so well. He was off of lipids, they took the temperature probe off and he was NCPAP. Great strides. On the second day of NCPAP, they started upping his oxygen and that thought he was getting sick. Third day they were reading to transfer him to another area hospital for an oscillator because they thought he wasn't oxygenating enough. We decided to send him to the Texas Medical Center in Houston, about 45 minutes from where we live. As soon as we arrived they began asking about NEC. I asked the area hospital EVERYDAY if he was showing signs. I can't blame anyone. These things happened.
He had surgery on Wednesday morning at 12:30 a.m and didn't come out until 4:30 a.m. He had 2 holes. One where his intestines connects to his colon and had a valve and 8 centimeters removed. And the other at the bottom of the stomach that was stitched together.
He's not out of the woods yet but he is making great strides since the surgery. You can really tell now how much pain he was in when no one knew if it was NEC or not.I hope this is a turning point for our strong little boy!
Re: Walker has NEC
Oh, no, poor baby.
And poor momma, that must be so scary for you.
Another preemie mom at my NICU has twins born at 24w that are 2 weeks older than our kids. Her girl had NEC a few weeks back requiring surgery and she's doing great now.
Wishing Walker a speedy recovery.
BFP#2 3/16/11, beta 138; 4/12 Baby/HB DS born 9/10/11 at 29w4d due to partial abruption and PTL
BFP#3 8/19/13 Another boy! 17P, modified bedrest and Nifedipine helped us have a termie! DS2 born 4/19/14 at 38w5d.
I'm so sorry to hear this! But I'm glad to hear that he is at TCH-it really is a wonderful hospital. They will do everything they can for him. Its great that you are already seeing big steps forward after surgery.
I'm very close to TCH so please let me know if you need anything. I'll PM you my email now so you can get to me. I spent 10 weeks there so I know my way around pretty well and I'm happy to help you navigate everything there-including which nurses to request and so on.
Are you staying at RMH? If they didn't tell you how to spend the night at the hospital, let me know so I can fill you on that too.
Our precious girl, born at 27 weeks.
NEC is pretty scary. My daughter had it when she was 3 days old (24w2d gestational) and had surgery 2 days later. I had barely had time to research preemies when it ocurred so I was pretty unprepared. It's hard when your babies go through any surgery, and this one is especially tough if they have to go on a bag for a while.
My daughter was on an ostomy bag for 12 weeks, which caused some problems with her eating and weight gain. It will be a turning point; just let him heal and grow and be there with him. He knows you're there. It's hard to know our babies are hurting sometimes, but knowing we're there and we love them really does help. Even just touching him and holding him will be a comfort. It may slow his progress some, and there may be some delays in growth, but trust the doctors. It will all work out.
Whew! Thank God! I just let out a big sigh. They keep saying this is a common thing and that they have a few babies that have had surgery but I don't know anyone that can relate or tell me their story.
Peanut Butter and Jelly!
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