In the crib, you can see that she ended up falling asleep on top of her Minnie Mouse, but also the tubing coming from her is her feedings. She is on continuous feedings right now, and as the week goes on, we will decrease the number of hours that her formula must go in, so right now, she is getting 750 ml. of formula over 22 hours, and then tomorrow, we will decrease to 20 hours, etc. until we reach 12 hours for the full 750 ml. of formula. At that time, if she is tolerating the feedings well, we will decide if we can give her "bolus" feeds, where she would get the amount she needs in either 6 or 4 feeds throughout the day, just as you would sit down to a meal. Does this sound complicated??? It really isn't, but I thought you all might be curious how this works. We are learning a lot too. The true test is when we approach the end of the week and the 12 hour limit. We are hoping she doesn't get too full with the feedings and begin to vomit/spit up a lot or feel uncomfortable. The 750 ml. basically amounts to 24 oz. a day, which is approximately 4-8 oz. more than she would EVER take in on her own. As far as actual "meals" go right now she is not too interested because she basically has food in her tummy all of the time with the continuous feeds, but hopefully as we decrease the time, she will be more interested in eating and we can begin that process of introducing food all over again.
I know you all must have a million questions, feel free to email me if you like. We are so glad that this hurdle is behind us, and that we can finally move forward. We think her blood pressure has also improved as a result of this feeding tube, so who knows what is to come in the next week.
Charlotte and I had a great day together today, and I am pleased to say that she is crawling, pulling up, and being her happy little self again. Things were rough in the hospital, and she is not too fond of the nurses anymore (but she doesn't know her mommy is a nurse, thankfully). But, we made it through, and Chris and I feel more confident than ever that we will see our beautiful little girl begin to thrive.
I will be posting pictures of the hospital stay soon, but wanted to let everyone know that we are doing well and we are so happy to be home. Thank you for all of your prayers for our family.
The Hawns
2 comments:
Jenn,
She has so much hair in that picture!! Oh my goodness! You'll be doing pig-tails before long!
I'm so happy to hear everything went as well as expected, and that she's back to her playful self. I've been thinking of you all a lot this weekend.
My only question is how do you keep her from pulling the tube out? Okay, I have quite a few more questions, but they might be cleared up with your next posting. :-D So I'll wait.
I'm looking forward to seeing the hospital pictures. Thanks for updating.
Oh so good to hear that you are home and she is doing so well. You have been on my mind all weekend. Thank you for the update and I look forward to the pictures.
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