Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] My great grand baby was born ten weeks early, he has had a large belly, but lately it s gotten larger. The doctor at Cook s has done barium enema and said maybe Hersh Spurger (spelling) , Today his little belly is larger, won t eat and fussy. Then put a tube in to relieve some of the air and iv s, antibiotics. Do you have any idea what s going on with him?
[|AI|]  Thanks for putting up your query at Chat Doctor. I am sorry to hear that your great grand baby is not doing quite well. Probably your doctor seems to have a diagnosis of Hirschsprungs (pronounced: HIRSH-sproongz) disease. This is a condition that is present at birth (congenital) where there are missing nerve cells in the muscles of part or all of the babies of the large intestine (colon) thereby causing problems with passing stool. A newborn who has Hirschsprungs disease is usually unable to have a bowel movement in the first days after birth. This often requires surgical intervention. However, the diagnosis needs to be confirmed first. There are a number of conditions that cause intestinal obstruction in a newborn and the factors need to be looked into. Some portion of the gut could have not developed at all. Simpler things like meconium plug or meconium illus wherein the stool of the newborn gets solidified thus preventing the bowel movement, must have already been ruled out by now. I am sure that the doctors are doing their best. The tube that has been inserted into the stomach is indeed meant for decompression of the stomach. The antibiotics are meant to prevent some infection that may arise or are already likely to be present.