Long time no news

We had a rough couple of weeks over here, but I've finally found time to get on and tell you the jist of what has happened. First off, last time I wrote Lily looked like she was up and coming and would be moving to intermediate soon. Well, the next day she was back to square one with a tummy that measured 33 cm. The night before she was 29.5. So they completely put a stop to her feeds and did a bunch of x-rays and determined she had air in her tummy and intestines and that was why her tummy was huge. They called in a pediatric surgeon who was CONVINCED she had something called Hirschsprung's Disease, which is where the ganglion cells in the colon do not exist and therefore the colon cannot expand and contract like usual. The treatment: To remove the affected portion of colon. And the surgeon at Albany said he was CERTAIN that was what she had, though he had been wrong in the past, and that he felt it affected a large portion of her colon. So he said he would make a two-inch incision in her tummy and remove the affected portion and create an ostomy for her to poop into a bag and then at 6 months old go back in and reconnect the rest of her up so she could poop like normal. The first step, however, was to do a rectal biopsy to determine if she had Hirschsprung's. We waited three full days to hear those results and in the meantime I contacted Yale New-Haven Hospital because if she had HD we were going to move her there to give her a chance at laparascopic vs. laparotomy or Open Incision surgery. Yale's surgeon, however, highly doubted Lily had HD and lo and behold, SHE DIDN'T. She had normal ganglion cells in both layers of her colon. And the next day, she started pooping without her suppositories and it began to normalize in color since then.



Now she is up to 77 mL ever 4 hours of formula, since I'm convinced she blew up like a balloon because of gas. I've been so gasy and so had Eve and that could be the breast milk. Lily's PICC line was removed the other day and we are sooooo hoping that she comes home soon. Like within a week. They were due next Wednesday the 11th so if she does, it is right around when they tell you to expect them home.



And speaking of home, EVE IS HOME. She came home on Monday and she is doing awesome. She takes about 60-70 mL every three to four hours and she is on breast milk with a little formula additive to bulk her up. Lily is 6.5 pounds and Eve is about 6 pounds now. They are both doing great. Hopefully within the week we will have a full house and a complete family after over 6 weeks of back and forth to the hospital. Keep up the prayers though, we need to get these girls through these early days and Eric and I need to keep our sanity. And now....the girls that you've all been waiting to see together: