It's amazing how quickly time flies when you're on vacation. Especially when you fly throughout the night. We arrived to sunshine filled Alabama skies at 9 a.m. The Bean handled both flights like a pro. Both times we deboarded, the flight attendant proclaimed, 'what a great baby, she never made a peep!' Despite our need for calories, we did not end up feeding Andi on the red-eye flight. The farrell bag makes it so that the backpack has to be above her, and if it isn't, it will fill with milk -- instead of giving it to her stomach. Instead of disconnecting it, we just shut off the feed. We've been having a lot of issues with air bubbles and vommiting. So, that probably added to the decision not to feed overnight. Saturday was a complete blur... I remember sitting outside in the sunshine, and that was about it. Sunday, we played golf with my Dad. Having not played in almost two years, yikes on my game. I found my swing a few times, but for the most part, I was out there savoring the sunshine, silence and the treat of hanging out with my family. Sunday evening, Andi's aunt & uncle came over to dote on her. We sat outside and enjoyed a warm evening. It was the perfect day.
The vommitting has been a continued issue. Prior to gerry-rigging the leak, Andi was getting 85ml/hr. Again, it's been determined she was losing 25-30% of the feed. The hospital had us increase her feed to 90ml/hr. So, it would be easy to say that having never received a full 85 ml/hr...trying to receive 90 ml/hr, even stretched out over 1-2 hours... is a lot of food for her little tummy. In addition to the volume, Andi's had a ton of air bubbles vent out when she's fussy. It only comes out when she's upset, meaning, it's bothering her. Yesterday, we tried to give her mylicon (anti-gas meds) with every feed, and honestly, it seemed to make little-to-no difference. I don't have any ideas on why pulling up or raising the button would cause her to collect air bubbles in her stomach. One of our favorite nurses suggested that maybe she's always had a lot of air in her stomach, it just was able to easily escape with the leak. Last night, we made the executive decision to reduce her volume. We've reduced her rate to 60 ml/hr with an overall volume of 70 ml. This change, so far, has seemed to prevent the pukage. I figure it's better to put less in, than push more volume and have her puke it out. It is thought that the puking was the reason her electrolytes to become whack.
Today, we're off to go pick up our rental car. Daddy Bean and I are off to New Orleans tomorrow. Then, we're off to Destin. Andi's in the perfectly capable and loving hands of Ginga. Both are in hog-heaven. We're enjoying the sunshine and being spoiled by either attention, or a little time off. We're a bit sunburnt, and loving every minute of the weather here.
I'm so glad you're on vacation!
ReplyDeleteBummed that Andi is having so many issues with her feeds... I'm glad you seemed to have found a workable solution for now. While I totally get mourning the lost calories (I've been doing that for almost 8 years!... for Gracie...I've got no trouble finding plenty of calories that I don't need!), I also think that keeping her fed something and it staying in is so much more important.
Enjoy your sunshiney vacation!