Count It All Joy

Why is it that every day brings some new obstacle? (I will warn you, this post will be long.) Today brought dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, sodium defficiency, lots of blood draws, herniating of the stoma, weight loss, bilirubin rise, abdominal fluid output rise, white blood cell count rise, and lack of appetite.
--Carter's bilirubin is up--5.8 two days ago up to 6.8 today. Not enough to get really worked up about, but still, an increase. It had been going down for the past two weeks, so this is a bit of a disappointment.
--His abdominal fluid is still draining quite a lot. About 30 mL or 1 ounce per hour. Considering he eats approximately 2-3 ounces every 3 hours, this is not a good thing. They were replacing 1/2 his fluid loss with saline by IV, but the doctor switched it today to full replacement. Hopefully this will help ward off his dehydration.
--His counts are out of whack because of all the fluid loss. Sodium level is low, so now he gets special medicine for that. Electrolytes are messed up, so he's getting some replacement nutrients for that. Because of all of this, he gets his heal stuck for blood draws every few hours, usually just as he's finally beginning to rest.
--Dr. Oluola said he was with Carter for a long time during the night (Saturday night) fixing his stoma (the part of the intestine that sticks out of his belly for his colostomy). It had begun herniating, or pushing out, and he tried to get it to go back in. Therefore, the good Dr. was still in the same clothes from Saturday. Thank you Dr. Oluola!
--His ostomy bag kept coming off, so we spent the first hour or so of our day fixing the situation. They finally put skin glue on his skin, then a layer of duoderm adhesive, then his bag. Hopefully this will help, as his skin is very irritated.
--Carter's weight as of 12 a.m. Sunday was 7 lb. 12 oz. This is over a pound less than 2 weeks ago when he came into the hospital. Our little boy's arms and legs are so skinny, and his little belly protrudes around his stoma.
--The normal white blood cell count should be between 5,000-17,000. Carter's for the past 2 days is over 35,000. We are unsure if an infection is causing this, or if it might be the steroid medicine he's on. More tests and uncertainties. So he's on an antibiotic.
--The fluid draining from his abdomen was a clear yellow until a day or two ago, when it suddenly became milky. The doctor doesn't know if it is infection or if there is a leak in the surgery areas somewhere, causing the breastmilk to leak into the abdomen. Neither of these is a good thing, of course.
--Finally, Carter is quite excited about breastfeeding, but soon after he begins to eat, he gets very sleepy. We are afraid he will have to go back to bottle feeding so we can keep track of the amount he's getting.
Our baby just seems to be getting sicker. It is very difficult to stay positive after today. We know that he is not close to coming home, especially because of the weight loss and fluid troubles. The doctor is "very concerned" and so are we. Yet we know that God is in control. We have to keep trusting Him, and we take joy in the sweet little smiles from our son. He really is the most precious child ever. Seriously. I'm not kidding. How could you not love this face?

James 1:2 says, "Count it all joy, my friend, when you encounter various trials." This is so hard to do, and we know this is the biggest trial of our lives, but God is here. He's in the NICU, guiding the doctors and nurses, he's sitting by Carter's crib, holding both his little body and our hands, and he's with each of you as you go about your days. So, have a good Monday.

P.S. We had many visitors over the weekend. Here are some shots of the Grandpas (and Grandma Linda) with Carter:

Thank you to everyone for the cards and gifts. One gift, from an angel named Wilma, now hangs over Carter's crib: