11/4/11

Ugh. Today did not start off well. At about 4am, I heard Maddy making strange noises in her crib. About the same time, the nurse came in to do her vitals. We were both standing there watching Maddy because she just seemed off. She was salivating and bubbling at the mouth, and her nose sounded really congested. All of the sudden Maddy throws up, so we get her cleaned up and Maddy throws up again...this continues a total of 6 times. Which was hard for me to understand because she was barely getting any milk in her tummy to begin with so what exactly was she throwing up?

The doctors decided to stop all the feeds and give her body a chance to recover a bit. They also ordered another x-ray to see what she has going on in her tummy. Thankfully the x-rays showed no blockages, but it did show that she still has lots of air and gas in her intestines and bowels. Originally, some of her doctors said they wanted to do a study on her which involves putting barium in her body and then taking x-rays throughout the day to see where the substance has traveled through the body. I wasn't too excited about this because I just thought her body could use a break. Thankfully, our favorite one of her surgeons, Dr. Avansino said he wanted to give her body a break for the day and to hold off on the study. So now we just wait.

11/3/11

Maddy now has a feeding tube in her nose. She is only getting 2ml an hour, and it will go up to 3ml an hour as long as she tolerates the feeds still. I really didn't want her to get a feeding tube, but I want her to get the nutrition she needs and to start gaining some weight.

I was able to give her 1 bottle feeding of 10cc's today which she tolerated just fine. Hopefully this means the feeding tube can come out sooner than later!

11/2/11

Maddy continues to throw up feeds, even though they dropped them down in quantity. She had an x-ray today to see if there is a blockage of some kind that isn't allowing the milk to pass through. Thankfully the x-rays don't show any blockage, or break down of the bowels or intestines. However, they did show that poor Maddy's body is filled with gas and her body just doesn't know how to expel it yet. So her tummy is distended and her bowels and intestines are so swollen. The doctors put in a tube in her nose to help suck out the air from her tummy. They also said she would not be on any more feeds for a while.

She also got started on her 3rd type of acid reflux medication and got a wedge to sleep on to help with the reflux. Poor little pumpkin.

11/1/11

Maddy's feeds increased to 16cc's. However, her body decided it was too much for her and she threw up multiple feedings. Skipped a few feeds during the day and she seemed fine. However she was up most of the night with gas pains and was very uncomfortable. This is all very discouraging because we thought her body was handling the feeds so well. Although, her doctors have told us the entire time that babies with Gastroschisis often take 2 steps forward and 1 step back throughout their recovery.

Dills was afraid to hold Maddy...

10/31/11

Doctors increased Maddy's feeds to 12 cc's every 3 hours. Maddy is still eating great and her surgeon even called her an overachiever. If things keep going this well, it's possible we may get to come home in 2-3 weeks, fingers crossed!!

Hailey is still fighting a bit of a cough, so she is staying with my mom and dad. We were so sad that she wasn't with us on Halloween and we couldn't take her trick or treating. She didn't miss out completely though,  my mom dressed her up as a princess and they headed out to the Cascade Mall to trick or treat. It sounds like Hailey had a blast and even got pixie dust sprinkled on her.

Princess Hailey

Pixie dust

Trick or treat!

10/30/11

Increased Maddy's feeds to 8cc's every 3 hours. She is still doing great and seems to want more milk. These are all great signs that she is ready to eat and digest the milk. Fingers crossed she continues on this path. Jeff stayed at the hospital for the first time alone tonight, while I stayed at the Ponald McDonald House to catch up on much needed sleep.

10/29/11

Madeline started on tiny feeds today. She did 5cc's from a binky trainer...basically just a binky with a tube through the nipple and they suck the milk in that way. She did great! They decided to put her on 5cc's of breast milk every 3 hours by bottle.

We took Hailey to a Halloween event at Woodland Park Zoo. Our friends the Rogers' brought their 4 kids down too. It was our first time leaving the hospital together in a long time. My parents came down and sat with Maddy for us, because I'm not ready (nor will I be) to leave her alone. Hailey dressed up as a strawberry and was so excited to trick or treat! We all had a blast.

Drinking milk for the first time!

Burping her for the first time

Proud daddy

Random pictures

Sleepy time with daddy

Snuggles from Hailey

The MacDonald family...I look like I'm half asleep...

Play time at the Ronald McDonald House

Aunt Michelle

Smiles!

Grandpa and Madeline

Baby feet!

Day 7 (10/20/11)

Visitors! Uncle John and Aunt Mark came to visit today. And then later in the evening, Amity and Candice came to visit. Amity brought an amazing gift from the Sheriff's Office Benevolent that left us speechless and teary eyed.

Day 6 (10/19/11)

Big day!!! We got to hold her for the first time and it was AMAZING!! Moved out of the NICU today!! Very exciting! Maddy also got put in a big girl crib. We are so happy to be in a recovery room because there is a fold out bed and we can stay the night with her. Thankfully we had the room to ourselves. I was going to stay alone at the hospital and Jeff was going to go back to the Ronald McDonald House, but I got super emotional and worried when the time came for him to leave, so he stayed. Thank god because Maddy had a rough night and threw up green bile twice because her ng tube was suctioning properly. Jeff stayed up most of the night to make sure she was ok.