The Biggest Poo Ever!!!

Just before we left the hospital, we had just finished Skylar's second full feed that she seemed to tolerate pretty well. The nurses left to get our paperwork and all of a sudden Skylar started fussing. She's an extremely good baby and really only fusses when there's a reason (she's in pain, not comfortable, tired, etc.). So I wasn't too sure if she needed pain medicine or what, until I heard the sound.

Let me interrupt to tell you that ever since we put her on the high calorie formula last week, her poo has been really thick like paste, a little on the green side, and she's been a little backed up because of the iron. It smells way worse too. At the hospital today, her belly was looking a little bloated after her last feed, but we had a farrell gas release bag and thought that would take care of any bloating so we didn't think much of it.

So back to the story... At first, it sounded like a normal wet breast-fed poo so I was actually excited because it seemed like it was easy for her to get out. I heard some gas in the mix and definitely smelled some funk. Then I heard even more bubbles and force exploding in her diaper and it just kept coming - I lifted up her little gown to see some green coming out the side of her diaper on the right. There was a moment of silence. Thinking she couldn't possibly have more in there, and not wanting any more to pour out, I was about to take off her diaper to try and get the mess off her. Just as I was undoing the tabs, I think some dynamite went off and poo came shooting up her back and out both sides of the diaper! It was all sorts of consistencies and colors - green thick paste, watery brown, white chunks, you name it. Gagging, I press the red nurse call button. No answer. I pres it again, and again, and again the way my dad presses elevator buttons, ha. No response. I go out in the hallway and look at four nurses just chillin at the desk (our nurse was not there) and I let them know that I pressed the nurse call button and I needed some serious help. My nurse showed up with her assistant and their faces both dropped. Once I made sure there was nothing to be alarmed about (other than the amount of poo) I busted out laughing - gagging and eyes watering - and said, "how did dad get out of this one?!"

We didn't even know where to begin because it was spilling out of her diaper everywhere. We emptied the crib/bed and wrapped the diaper in the blanket she was laying on and threw all of it away. We used about 6 wipes and switched to 4 wash cloths to clean her off. It was quite ridiculous. My dad and Nana showed up as I was drying her off and were welcomed by the nice smell :) Kyle caught a whiff of it when he went to throw something away as we were leaving and was shocked. It is the type of smell that sticks to your nose hairs and you feel like it's on you somewhere because you keep smelling it and have the strongest urge to shower. Anyway, it gave me a good laugh looking back on it all. I am hoping that it won't happen again because it was really nice to have two other people to help and be on the hospital bedding that you can just throw away... but most of all for Skylar's sake because her poor little belly and bottom!!! Not knowing if it was caused by the heavy drugs, recovery from being put under, IV fluids, the change in formula, or all of the above, we decided to change her feed schedule slightly and hoped that her body got rid of what it needed to.

Coming home, we now feed her over an hour period instead of a half hour period to give her belly more time to process and adjust. We are also back on the Similac Isomil Advance soy formula with iron instead of the milk based they gave us in the hospital and will continue to mix the powder into a high calorie diet. We're still alternating between formula and breast milk if I can keep pumping and producing... It's after 1:30 AM and I am exhausted. I was tired at 9:30 PM and was ready to pass out then, but I had to suction her out, get ready for another feed, pump, put her c-pap on for the night (which made her more fussy and upset) and have been suctioning her out since. I finally gave her some tylenol with codeine to knock her out for the night because I thought her fussiness could be pain related (I mean, she did have major surgery two days ago) and am waiting on her feed to finish. Kyle's asleep and will hopefully get enough rest to be productive at work tomorrow. We have family in town and will be busy through Easter, but I am really hoping to find time for a nap during the day before I have to do this all over again tomorrow night. Some of you have asked, so I'll give you a run down of our daily schedule sometime soon once it's established, lol. The feed just finished so I am off to bed only to get up in 2 hours to do it again... sweet dreams. At least Skylar's asleep now.