Saturday 6 March 2010

The Joy of Poo

When you think of poo, what does it conjour up? A horrible smell, disgusting colour? Joseph has made me see poo in a whole new light.

When I was pregnant I remember reading an article in a magazine about how parent's attitudes to poo can cause problems in later life. Making horrible noises when changing a nappy, showing revulsion can cause a child to perhaps be anxious about their bodily functions, causing problems with toilet training, and possibly irritable bowel syndrome.

So I decided that I would be positive about poo right from the beginning.

When Joseph was born he struggled. His stomach and digestive system had stopped growing at 24 weeks. Day by day passed and Joseph hadn't done a poo. He was too poorly to have any studies done, our hospital has only the most basic facilities and to do anything further he would have to be transported out, they didn't think he'd make it.

For days there was worry and panic. His consultant came to see me and said they believed there was a serious problem, that Joseph would not be able to eat or drink possibly his whole life, and he'd need a series of operations, including a PEG feed, so he could be fed directly into his stomach (at the time he was fed "superman formula" through a long line in his arm, and had breastmilk as a mouth wash.

I was a bit confused at the time.....and perhaps was being a little too positive, and looked at her and said "I don't think so....he's a Hodges man, he'll be fine".

I prayed, the nurses prayed, we all prayed Joseph would poo, and show us that things were all connected and in good working order. I ate vast amounts of curry, and they started breast milk infusions via naso gastric tube supplementing the long line, to see if that got things going.

About two and a half weeks passed, I walked into the ward and there was a buzz! Everyone looked happy, even the doctors. Three nurses came and excitedly took me by the shoulders to the bin. On top of the bin was a nappy. Inside the nappy was an enormous amount of lovely, sweet smelling poo!!!!

The relief was amazing. His digestive system had grown, it was developing. He continued to tolerate more and more feeds, and do more and more poo!

To me poo will now always be a sign that everything is working! And I've never once complained about the vast amounts of poo Joseph now creates!

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