If you live in a government town, you might as well be a G-man

Calder has decided to keep his nurses on their toes. Yesterday he baffled Eileen by actually coughing the feeding tube inserted through his nose ... out of his mouth. The tube was reinserted and an X-ray taken to ensure there was proper placement. And yet, he chose to do it overnight AGAIN for Megan, along with throwing up six times in a row.

No one is too concerned yet. The charge nurse thinks that despite the X-ray, the tube had just gotten a little out of whack, and that perhaps too there was just too much air in his stomach. My Googling habit produced some info on a condition called pyloric stenosis, commonly associated with projectile vomiting, where an inflammation of muscles leading from the stomach into the intestines keeps food from moving effectively on its journey through the system. Megan told us it's a little soon to believe this to be the cause but that they'll definitely be keeping an eye on it, as always.

some of Calder's superheroes

In terms of the question of his neurological development, we have decided (at least for the moment) to forgo the MRI. The two doctors we have spoken to thus far are both ambivalent. The MRI could tell us whether and where in the brain there are abnormalities -- but it would not be able to pinpoint how or when those abnormalities would manifest themselves and therefore would not have any affect on his current treatment. In other words, even if the scan showed complications, we couldn't do anything about it.

However, we have decided to go forward with the G-tube. There is some argument that his neurological development (any complications aside) would be advanced more quickly at home. As I've mentioned before, we feel he is getting phenomenal care at the hospital, but the nurses themselves have assured us he would get more attentive care at home; they each have other babies they care for while also tending to Calder, plus our home environment would be much quieter and dimmer than the typically bright and boisterous NICU. The doctor estimates that barring any complications, Calder would be home within about 10 days of the surgery, which sounds very good to us!