April Update

Kaitlyn had Bronchitis, but some serious anti-biotics helped take care of it. (thankfully). She still has a bit of a runny nose, but is now sounding much better (meaning, no more breathing treatments). Her skin rash (eczema?) also seems to have cleared up (using cremes and such) not sure really what caused it, maybe it was the goats milk or the soy milk products we were using when we went cow-dairy free.

Kaitlyn's peeling hands

We are back to using the DVD for most of the feeds. We start the feeds without one, and unfortunately you get some of this behavior: (so different than the last video I posted right?)




She is still vomiting too, The other night I was having a really good dinner, nearing the end and she tried to swallow a potato from her potato salad whole (even though it's mashed down) and ended up gagging (normal for her) and emptying her entire stomach and then some. I was so shocked by the size of the vomit, I had to weigh it, it was 175 g....her meals aren't that much, so there was definitely water and food from her previous feed.

poor baby...yes, that's a bowl full of vomit

Dr Patel (http://www.clinic4kidz.com/ Was here today (her feeding therapist). She was amazed how well Kaitlyn was doing. I don't see as much improvement from day to day, because it's my life sadly, but she kept saying over and over how well she was doing.

Here's the best news of all, we charted Kaitlyn's weight (not a lot the last 4 months) but she's still right on her own little curve on the chart, but she's one active little girl and I was very tiny as a baby also. So we decided to DC the night tube feeds! Do you know what that means? It means my daughter will be eating 100% orally for the first time EVER. We are not increasing the amount she takes in during the day (there is no way she could tolerate it), but the night feeds have supposed to have been for supplementing what she looses when she vomits. We'll try it for month, closely watching her weight to see how she does.

What this means: I can sit on the couch like a "normal" parent once she goes to bed. I don't have to prepare and make her Blended Diet, I don't have to get up every 20-30 minutes to push in a syringe of food into her belly, I don't have to wash the syringes, flush the tubing, ugggghhh, I can't tell you how great this is going to be for us! I can't wait!


We had a bout of incredible weather last weekend (it was nearing 90) and Kaitlyn and I went to the beach (Dad was out of town for a week) and we had a blast, (excepting of course that she vomited at the beach, and I longingly watched other toddlers sitting nearby nicely eating their food and was wracked with a bit of jealousy). Kaitlyn also did not like getting dirty, she wanted to leave not long after we got there in fact, which sucked as it's an hour drive from my house. But Mom sure enjoyed the sunshine and Kaitlyn loved putting her feet in the ocean (even though it was freezing).



Pregnancy:

I'm 21 weeks as of yesterday (5months 1 week). My next ultra sound is next week to see if possibly hopefully my planctia previa may have moved. I feel great! Just worried. I've grown a lot all of a sudden!

Brian is quite sick sadly. He was out of town for a week, with his newly finished four-wheeler (He had a great time and I was so happy for him, especially that it's finished). He went to work the day after he got home and has been in bed since he got off work yesterday. He feels horrible! Hoping that Kaitlyn, myself and baby boy don't get it!

10pm update: first night of no tube feeding - WOW, it feels so strange! I'm really enjoying this! But Kaitlyn did just have a weird crying/moaning/trashing bit in her sleep, this is her first NIGHT without food! Wonder if it's related?