We are now 48 hours after the bad diaper and she has shown no other symptoms of NEC. They did a repeat abdomen xray this morning, and it was clear, so whatever they were uncertain about before is no longer there. This was a relief, but I wasn't sure what the plan was going to be since we started a new rotation of Staff doctors. At all times Penelope has a minimum of 3 doctors. There is the resident (pediatric medical student), a fellow (doctor who has completed pediatric residency and is receiving additional neonatal training), and the Staff doctor (experienced neonatologist, this doctor calls the shots). We are on our 3rd resident, 2nd fellow, and now our 3rd Staff. The new Staff Doctor is the Medical Director for the NICU.
His plan is to treat this as an intestinal infection. He wants to continue the antibiotics for 10 days. Hopefully on day 8, as long as all is well, she will be started on trophy feeds again. So just like before her PDA was closed, she will probably get something like 2Q8, and they will ease her gut back into working. The good news is that every day that goes by her organs mature a little more. So besides it being a week of rest, it's also a week of maturing. So hopefully when we start feeding again we will be able to go full force because she will be 31 weeks gestation, which is a much different ball game.
All in all the day was uneventful, which I like. I spent the bulk of my time reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" while Penelope slept. This afternoon the marketing director for the NICU stopped by for me to sign the consent for next weeks photo shoot. I'm excited to have the opportunity to do some professional photos with her while she is still so tiny!
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