Bennie Wayne

8/4-8/12

Bennie started to get extra fussy and upset on the afternoon of 8/4. She threw up some of her feedings. The doctor decided to hold her feedings and start antibiotics because he could tell something was wrong. Over the next couple of days they did a work up for a possible infection in her blood. They also took multiple X-rays of her abdomen and consulted with a pediatric surgeon to assess her condition. By the evening of 8/6 it was becoming more and more clear that the source of her inflammation and discomfort was her abdomen and her blood continued to be negative for infection.

The morning of 8/7 we decided with the NICU team that we needed to transfer Bennie to RiverBend NICU where they have pediatric surgeons who could operate on Bennie if needed. Bennie flew in the helicopter in a little flight isolette. It was so terribly hard to see her flying away. I was able to drive over to Springfield and join her that afternoon.

On 8/8 we met the surgeon, Dr. Ruscher, and Bennie had surgery on her abdomen in the afternoon. They found that Bennie’s small intestine had twisted, cutting off blood supply and causing part of the intestine to die. They removed a significant portion of her intestine. They placed an ostomy to allow for her stomach and intestine content to come out into a little bag while she heals. It is possible she will have an ostomy long term and it is also possible they will reconnect her intestines later on. She is currently getting iv nutrition and will not start getting breast milk again for a few days or week depending on how she is healing. Long term outcomes for her intestine function are still unclear as she is premature and some bowel can continue to grow while she gets closer to her due date. She seemed much more comfortable after surgery- this surgery saved her life!

I got settled into the Ronald McDonald house here at RiverBend. It is a super nice place to stay and they provide dinner every night.

Since surgery Bennie has been healing and resting well. The surgeon is happy with how her ostomies are looking. They were able to remove the breathing tube again and she is back on cpap and breathing well.

I read her first book to her on 8/10 ❤️

We are hopeful for continued slow, positive, progress as she grows over the next week.