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Second Update: Per doctor's orders, we have discontinued the feeds again. Rebekah had more blood drawn to see if anything else is going on, and we'll see what happens from here. We will not be resuming feeds until at least tomorrow morning, if then. Rebekah also will have consults tomorrow with Peds Surgery and GI to see what else they might find or if they have any other ideas.

Update: As of about 6:00 this evening, Rebekah's heart rate became elevated, her oxygen sats dropped, and she was increasingly uncomfortable and fussy. Our nurse noted the changes, as well, and is currently calling the doctor to find out what he wants to do. Rebekah has only been using the feeding tube about two and a half hours, and she has gotten about 12mL's of formula, so I'm not sure what will come next. I will update more when we hear back from the doctor.

Original post: After meeting with Rebekah's doctors early this afternoon, I finally feel like we have some answers....maybe! :)

One of Rebekah's stool samples came back positive for clostridium difficile, better known in medical circles as c. diff. Basically, it is a growth of the bad bacteria in the intestines and can have some potentially harmful side effects if not treated. So, Rebekah is on a seven-day regime of Flagyl, which is an antibiotic used to kill off the bad bacteria in order to allow the good bacteria to build up. There are several risk factors for contracting c. diff., and Rebekah meets almost all of them - except for being over the age of 65; she's not quite there yet! :)

Some of the risk factors that Rebekah has are: taking broad-spectrum antibiotics, especially for an extended period of time (she was on broad-spectrum during her last hospital stay), being hospitalized, having a weakened immune system and having previous abdominal surgery or gastrointestinal procedure. Now that she has had c. diff. once, she is more at risk for contracting it again, so it is the first thing that will be checked from now on when she has persistent diarrhea.

In honor of Daddy's birthday, I rolled over all by myself!

There shouldn't be an increased risk of exposure to c. diff. for the boys as they are all in good health and Rebekah is not potty-trained, so they are not sharing a toilet with her. We just need to be cautious of washing our hands immediately after changing Rebekah before changing Caleb's diapers.

I'm adorable!!

Rebekah is currently using her g-tube for a very small (5mL's per hour) amount of continuous feeds. See, I told you the plan was subject to change! Since we know what Rebekah's problem was and we are now treating it, the doctor thought we could safely start out using the tube slowly to see how things go. So far things are going well, and we are going to be working up another 5mL's every four hours through the night and into tomorrow. The new plan is to see how Rebekah does and possibly go home late tomorrow, or more likely early Saturday. Please pray that Rebekah gets over this c. diff. quickly and completely and doesn't catch anything else while she's here! We need her to be well for her heart catheterization on the 26th!

Nancy