Holy Shit !

27 May 2017

It’s finally over.  We’re tired, nay, we’re exhausted.  We’re better by the day but there’s so many hours to catch on, it will take a while.  I think we need a holiday. 

It all started in 2016.  Back when Brieuc was still warm inside the womb.

Brieuc’s, or “the baby’s” as he was known at the time, the baby’s left kidney shown to be twice as large as the right on the ultrasounds.  Nothing to worry too much about, it’s very common apparently.  Basically the kidney is not processing the urine quite as well as it should, but that should all disappear after birth. 

Birth came, and Brieuc’s kidney still hadn’t reduced in size, although it was passing urine just fine.  They did tests, inserted tubes in his little penis, and as there was no reflux, it proved the kidney was working, just not well.

After a couple of months and many more ultrasounds, X-rays and various tests, the pediatrician opted for a small operation.  She would insert a small stent in the urethrae which should help the urine to pass better, allowing the kidney to resorb to its normal size.  It’s called a pyeloplasty we’re told. Fair enough.

Early April 2017, we went in. General anesthesia, a small incision on his back, and a couple of hours later Brieuc woke up smiling.  No kidding, he was happy as ever, like he had woken up from a nice nap.  We did stay four days in hospital though, alternating Claire and I for who would stay overnight, on this awful reclining chair as a crappy excuse for a bed.

All is well in the world, we finally get discharged on Sunday 9th.

No complaints for a few days, Brieuc picks up a fever a week later.  We thought it was the flu but by Wednesday 26th, his fever soared to 39.  Straight to the emergency room, a few tests later and it’s confirmed. UTI. Urinary tract infaction.  Nothing dramatic, but babies being babies, they poop where they pee.  As a result, e-coli.  Another four days in hospital.  This time, IV, antibiotics, the lot.  And he’s constipated. Badly.

And four more bad nights for us.  But he’s back at the creche and seems happy.

May.  Another month, another problem.  It’s Wednesday, May 3rd.  Brieuc vomits.  A lot.  And he hasn’t shat in three days.  He is also not eating much, everything that comes in, eventually comes out the same way.  Except water.  Must be a bug.

I stay home with him all day on the Thursday.  May the 4th be with you little man.  I give him water every hour, and milk every four.  The water stays in, the milk does not.  By 7PM, he is dehydrated.  His eyes are sunken in, the side of his head too.  He sleeps way too much.

Off to the emergency we went.  I thought initially they would put him on IV and we’d be home by midnight.  We were wrong.

And still no poop.

We spent the night at the hospital, Claire flew out to Christmas Creek for the day.  She hasn’t been on mine site for a long long time.  It’s a nice break for her.  I just took another day off and stayed at Brieuc’s side.

Come Saturday mornin, he’s still not pooping, but the nurses keep insisting we feed him.  It must be his bronchitis that went down his stomach and that makes him vomit.  The intravenous feed he’s had brought his colours back and he’s as cheerful as ever.  He even welcomes the bottle of milk.

10AM, Brieuc’s vomit is green.  The nurses turn white.  This is bile.  This, is bad.  This isn’t a bug, it’s something else.  Quickly to the X-ray, it’s confirmed, he has a malrotation.  Some part of his small intestine is turned the wrong way.  They prepare the operating room and they rush him out. It’s going to take three hours, we’re told.  A couple of friends take us out to lunch on the beach to take our minds off things.

2PM, he’s out of surgery.  The malrotation is fixed, but given its size, the surgeon thought that could not have been the cause of such violent vomiting.  So he kept looking down the bowel and found the real cause.  A part of his intestine which should have disappeared by week 10 of gestation, hadn’t, and caused a twist and a knot in the rest of the bowel.  So poor guy could not eat properly, not poop.

Eight days in hospital. eight sleepless night.  Eight days of morphine, intravenous food and just water, but only on day two.

We could only be released when, for 48 hours, Brieuc would start farting, and shitting.  I’ve never been so excited to see excrement.  

For the next two weeks, we would monitor his shits, and sadly the news weren’t great.  Heavily constitaped, little Brieuc could only manage one golf-ball size shit per day, hard as a rock, dark as a soul.  Must hurt like hell.  I am absolutely impressed with Brieuc.  The level of pain he must have been in before his operation, all that while keeping his smiles and his sense of humour, he only cried when he had cramps.  

We’ve changed his diet completely.  Less milk, more fibre.  He’s been on a strict diet of no banana, tons of fruits, vegetables, juice.  And prunes.  Pureed, juiced, steamed, raw, cooked, prune in his cereal, prune in his milk, prune in his water.  Prune everywhere.

He’s had his last operation yesterday, they removed the stent.  9AM scheduled for the operation, we were home at 11AM.  He probably does not remember anything except he had a nice nap.

We’ve also changed laxative yesterday.  I am pleased to inform you the shit has come out.  He can now enjoy a normal meal, and a good night sleep. 

And so can we.

Aaaaand now, he’s teething.