Benjamin's sonogram, diagnosis and what needs to be done...

Pediatric Urologists exist and are great to have in town when facing serious things.  We know this because Benjamin had to go see one this afternoon. Our story begins yesterday morning...

Ben had a stubborn umbilical cord that wouldn't come off for several weeks after birth.  I went back and forth to the dr for a few weeks and then gave it 2 weeks to "heal" where I forced myself not to be the crazy rookie mom who took her kid in for everything.  Finally though there was a nagging feeling that I just needed to get this looked at.  Once at the doctor's she said that she was a little concerned because his belly button (which is an outie due to an umbilical hernia) was leaking a little fluid each day.  She sent us down to OSF hospital to get a sonogram on it to see if his navel was connected to any internal organs, which would be very serious and need to be repaired though surgery quickly.  They could get us in right away so off we went!



Click on the pic to see it real size...
is he not the sweetest thing when he sleeps!



I was sure that Benjamin would scream through the sono because he was already hungry but he did quite the opposite!  I don't know if it was the warm, dark room or the warm jelly on his tummy but he actually fell asleep!  Afterward I found an empty waiting room to nurse him in (yay for nursing covers!) and then up to see if Bonnie was around the NICU area.  It was good to see her as always :)  Remember friends and family to pray for James! (http://www.learningtobeanewlywed.blogspot.com/)

We got the results Thurs afternoon and it's not what we wanted- Ben's bladder is connected through a small tube to his naval, this tube is essential when his umbilical cord was in use but should close off after birth.  This is a rare condition that can be very serious if there's an infection because it can quickly go internal through this "fistula."  (Jill, bring back memories of your cow friend at Purdue?) Our pediatrician set up an appt with the ped. urologist for this afternoon but let me know that there was a good chance that he would want to do surgery early next week.  This of course set my mind reeling about how he was going to be under general anethesia and in for a least a couple nights... not to mention that they would be cutting into him!  to see what surgery for this entails: http://healthguide.howstuffworks.com/patent-urachus-repair-picture.htm

We saw the urologist today.  Sidenote: how awesome is it to live in the town where the Children's Hospital of Illinois is located with outstanding doctors.  We are so blessed to already have leaned on them twice in Ben's 7 weeks of life outside the womb. 

The urologist did give us some good news though!  He doesn't want to do surgery right now, he wants to wait for at least a month and recheck things.  This month will give the urachus (the tube connecting the navel and bladder right now) a chance to possibly close on it's own, he says its very small and give Ben some time to grow.  So Benjamin is now on a daily antibiotic to prevent any infection and we go back in a month to see if it's still open and we'll figure out what needs to happen then. 



Brows furrowed... a common look from
my ever inquisitive infant son.



In other matters, like I mentioned before, Ben's started to smile at us which is rediculously amazing and creates a fuzzy feeling in my heart every single time.  Today I laughed out loud when he smiled so big he laughed and let out a frat boy sized belch in the process.  He then looks at me with those eyebrows furrowed as if to say, "what's so funny, I did what you asked!"  Then he spit up on my shirt.  How many of my stories end with that these days!!!