We're thankful for the usual suspects. Family, friends, employment, a few bucks in our wallet, two reliable cars, food in our pantry, a roof over our head. However, as our readers realize, our list is much brooder than just the regular list of gratitude. First and foremost, my praise for Dr. Zallen & his team, who successfully turned a leaky g-tube from hell, into a new g-tube site that doesn't leak a drop. He probably doesn't fully realize how greatly this has improved our lives. We still appreciate and are still committed to being eternal personal slaves to Dr. Langley & team, who successfully repaired Andi's heart defects. There have been countless Dr's, nurses & undeniably important people whom have helped us fix, improve, strengthen our bean -- and for all of them, we are incredibly thankful. We have dietitians, feeding specialists, Kajsa - our OT, Mary - our audiologist, the once in awhile PT, ENTs, and the people we see more often than not -- Dr. Cohen and Shawnee. The whole office knows when Andi is coming in, she's apparently spoken of rather fondly around there! There have been so many people playing such a huge role in our lives, whether they know it or not. Even if they're just listening to me whine or unload a bit of my heavy mind, or, laughing at my stupid jokes - even if they're beyond ridiculous... I am thankful.
I'm also thankful for a few new updates! In the past four or five days, Andi has only puked once! (...and I wasn't here to witness it!) Her need for venting is rather rare. Her stomach is seeming to tolerate the new formula well. I was adding some water to it, now that I finally got to the store, I've switched that to pedialyte. She's having heavier diapers (that means a lot in Andi-speak... as it is how we've always measured hydration - whether she was on lasix or not), she's pooping more often, and she has taken her largest amount of formula for the day yesterday, 800ml. At 30 calorie formula, I just hope that keeping it all down is going to warrant a weight gain.
I'm also pleased to report that Andi is interested in food that other people are eating, and likes the social aspect of eating. We've found that if we sit down together and eat, she's more inclined to participate. She's been enjoying some mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, and she even tried a few nibbles of scrambled eggs. I even have her working with a sippy cup that has some water in it. Although water is still not allowed, I am not putting juice of any kind in that cup as she tends to like to throw it on the floor. She hardly gets any out, and so, we're going for it. Mostly, she likes to hold it and chew on it, but, most importantly, is interested!
Today, I was looking for something and happened to pull out of the cabinet a wash tub that Andi took her first bath in. I couldn't help gaze down at the incredibly tiny tub and have trouble remembering how small she used to be.
When I was giving her a bath today in her bathtub in the sink, I couldn't help admire how big she is getting. Long, she's getting rather long. We're both recognizing that the baby is leaving and we're living with a little girl now. It's been rather fun to notice the transition. She's about .25" away from being at the max height for her car seat, and we're going to have to switch to a different car seat for bigger kids.
Andi has also been working on using some signs. She mostly mimics me, but I've got her signing, "more milk", "friends", and pointing to various parts of her face. She was caught Friday night pretending to snap her fingers, again, mimicking me - but still... it was pretty cool. She's also getting herself into a sort of 'sitting position' from being on her hands and knees. She's leaning forward and holding herself upright, but, she's doing it!
Again, rather thankful around here. Thankful to be done with all the hard stuff we've been through, thankful that she's improving and getting stronger, and thankful for the future where we'll certainly look back on all things we've overcome. It hasn't been easy, but, we're getting there.
No comments:
Post a Comment