Praying for Pee

Before Matthew was born, and all throughout the pregnancy, one thing I never thought I would hope for is dirty diapers. Nikki will be the first one to tell anyone that up until Matthew was born I had a baby-phobia!

So I find myself in a rather unique position currently in so much as I'm sitting on the edge of my seat, eagerly awaiting every golden drop of baby pee. You see much the same as adults, Matthew's surgery has caused him to retain fluid. Now unlike grown-ups whose kidneys have been dealing with this sort of thing for years, it takes babies a little longer to deal with all of the fluid accumulation.


Unfortunately, my son won't be able to come off of the ventilator until he can get rid of some of this fluid since the weight and pressure of the fluid make it too hard for him to breath on his own. The good news is that his heart rate and blood pressure are stable as he is beginning to eliminate some of this fluid. He is off of the paralytic drip as well as the narcotic that was keeping him rather sedated.

He opened his eyes for the first time since surgery when we came in to see him this morning and is really starting to move around again. They have also started a feeding tube on him and initiated what they call trophic feeds of breast milk. These trophic feeds go in at a very slow rate and get his stomach ready to handle more. He is doing well with these also.

All in all, my impression is that he is still ahead of the curve as far as recovery goes, but we will continue to take it one step at a time...Baby steps, that is.