Riley, Riley, Riley, what are we going to do with you

Just hours after I bragged to Riley's daytime Primary nurse at New Hanover about how well he has done since being discharged, I found myself sitting in the Pediatrician's office with him, after hours, and waiting for her to make a phone call to Duke.

What??????

Back up 4 days.... Riley has become very finicky about eating his bottles. We are working on transitioning him to a higher concentration of Pregestimil (formula) and less mommy milk. He needs the higher amount of formula to grow, so we have moved to 4oz of formula and 1oz milk. He takes it great for about a day and then begins to refuse his bottle. We try upping the amount of milk a little, it seems to help.

Sunday, more of the same.

Monday, more of the same.

Tuesday, Jay has to fight with him ALL day to eat, pretty much at all and he isn't very interested in nursing. Red flags go up for us now. We go from thinking maybe he isn't just finicky but maybe there is a problem.

Today, call the pediatrician first thing, since he wouldn't nurse this morning. He's not vomiting and doesn't have a bloated/distended belly so maybe he's just being stubborn and finicky and try and keep him hydrated, and he'll have to give in basically. Well....Riley does make up his own rules, so hey, this is HIGHLY possible right? All day goes by and Jay fights with him to eat, and by about 4pm, he has managed to get MAYBE 4oz in him ALL DAY. Jay said enough, this isn't normal. What's more, is that when we try and feed him, he takes a few sips from the bottle and you can HEAR the air gurgling in him. It's obscene. This just isn't normal so he calls the dr back to say that it's just getting progressively worse and so they say come in. Maybe there is a simple reason for it....ear infection or something.

Ears look fine. Throat looks fine. NO fever. He seems decently hydrated thankfully so no going to the hospital for IV fluids. By exam, there seems to be NOTHING wrong with Riley. She asked me if I thought he would eat, and seeing as how the last thing he ate was at 2pm, and that was barely 2oz and it was 6:30pm now, I said probably. He sucked on the bottle for about 5 seconds, his stomach made a terrible noise and he spit it out and wouldn't take any more. . Eating is obviously a problem for him right now. But nothing seems wrong. His belly isn't bloated. It didn't seem tender. He's laughing and smiling at her while she listens to him breathe.....

But he has such a complicated history, that she isn't comfortable (nor are we), just saying it could be teething and sending us on our merry way. So she goes to call Duke. The surgeon that did Riley's surgeries wasn't the one on call, but seeing as how there is only 2 pediatric surgeons up there, the one she did talk to, saw Riley plenty while he was at Duke. He said it doesn't sound like an EMERGENT issue, seeing as how he is pooping (albeit not as much, but he's not eating as much either), so he can't be completely blocked, so in other words, not a matter that needed to be investigated more tonight as long as his status doesn't change. BUT...tomorrow, he needs some blood work and at the very least a plain film xray of his belly (good ole' KUB here we come), but PREFERABLY an Upper Gi study. This is to make sure there isn't a stricture forming, narrowing his intestinal tract.

Hopefully, the radiology department at New Hanover can do this. I know they can do them, but well...Riley ended up needing a D-tube the last time he got one of these. So...they are going to call and schedule this tomorrow morning and some blood work. I HATE that he has to have this done. This is the tilt table thing that can take HOURS. HOURS that he lays in all sorts of dangling positions, screaming. UGH UGH UGH. but it's the only way to know the difference between Riley's just being a stinker and Riley has a serious issues brewing. So it's got to be done. And hope and pray that it shows NOTHING. and that the barium dye doesn't give him diarrhea. Meanwhile, it's well after 9pm and Riley hasn't eaten since 2pm. OTher than the few sips at the doctor's office. This may not sound abnormal, but he's an every 3 hours kind of guy. Pretty much to the second, you could set your watch by him.

So...a not so fun day ahead for little Riley. One spent like this:


And that is IF they can do it here. If not...up the road we go. Did I already say UGH?!