February 15, 2011

I think the doctors have finally realized what Jeremy and I have known for a long time. They are trying to feed Jaela too much. Before she got sick she was getting 54 ml every three hours by pump (you can see the pump in the left side of this picture). At first it would deliver it over half an hour but her tummy couldn't handle that much so fast, so they changed it to deliver over an hour. Well when we were trying to get her to nurse, the occupational therapists said babies should get a full feeding by mouth in twenty minutes. We thought it was crazy to expect her to eat in twenty minutes what her tummy could only handle over an hour.


Since she started eating again they have changed the way it's delivered. Instead of being on a timed pump, the syringe is taped to the top of her bed and gravity is what pushes it and it's a faster way for it to get into her stomach. So now that she's getting almost the full amount and faster, she's started to spit up a lot more. The nurse practitioner sat with her today while she got the feeding and observed her behavior afterward. She decided she was spitting up and unhappy because she was getting too much fluid. She consulted with the doctors and they've taken her fluid intake down to 36 ml and they'll just put some powder in the milk to give it more calories so she'll still gain weight.


We're supposed to consult with the surgeon tomorrow and hopefully have a date for the feeding tube. That's what is keeping her in the hospital now. We want to get it in as soon as possible because she'll have to start back with lower feedings again and work her way back up. It should take only a day or two for that, but we also have to stay til she heals enough.

So about that dumb car bed.....The occupational therapist and Jeremy spent a good portion of an hour trying to get that thing secured in the car. I guess they had to fight and fight and fight and still couldn't get it to work. The thing just flopped around no matter what they did. So the therapist came up with the perfect solution. Prop it up on a noodle. Yes, a noodle. The long tube used in a swimming pool. I'm not sure how it's going to work, but when we get it in I'll take a picture so everyone can see how we rigged this thing. I'm not so sure it's the safest and we'll probably use our nice car seat instead of this ugly bucket, but no one tell the therapists! It's so silly. We can carry her in her car seat, we just can't have her in the car in the car seat......

The best news is she still gets better every day. All the doctors and nurses say how good she looks and how well she is doing. They love that she's moving her limbs more and is more awake/alert. Keep saying prayers. They're being heard and answered!