Sunday, March 25, 2007

One more week until Abbypoluza 2007!!!!

Yahooooo!!!!
Only one more week until "lock down" is over. Finally!
Abby is doing better these days. Thank goodness too because she lost over a pound when she was sick. And when you're only 13 and a half lbs to begin with, there isn't too much to spare. Abby is also doing better with her eating lately. As you know, she only eats half of her food and milk by mouth and the rest of the milk goes through the G Tube. The problem has always been that the rest of the milk would take over an hour to give her through an over sized syringe and plunger. If we pushed it in any faster, she would throw it all up. This past week though, we decided to try the old way again, which we stopped before because the old way made her throw up too. The old way is called 'bolus feeding", which is using a syringe and attaching it to the g tube like normal, but we don't use the plunger along with the syringe. Instead, we just hold the syringe up in the air like a funnel, and pour a little bit of milk in every few minutes and let gravity do the rest. The milk goes in MUCH quicker this way. When we tried this at the beginning months and months ago, that was actually the problem. It went in so quick that she threw up. She just couldn't handle it. But now she can! So feeding her takes about a half an hour or so. Don't ask me why Abby will accept the milk going in her tummy so fast this way, but not if we pushed it through the syringe with a plunger. That's a mystery to me too. Let's just be glad she's actually getting her milk in a normal time phrame. This is important because she finally gets that "I'm full" sensation, which in turn means that she is a lot more hungry when the next time to eat rolls around. We've also noticed that she gets a nice case of "food coma" after she eats and has been taking longer naps more frequently throughout the day. We're very excited about everything and we hope that with this new found hunger she'll be able to take more food on her own and obviously gain weight quicker.
Momma is still doing well with her pregnancy and daddy found himself a jobby job which is GREAT news, especially since one of momma's first places she's taking our little nugget is to the mall. I told her to pretend like she's in a museum... look but don't touch. I think my words fell on deaf ears though.

All in all It's been a good week. Thanks again for checking in!


Look at our little model!



Here's that food coma I was talking about



And here's my latest artsy fartsy one... Not too bad eh?




=

Monday, March 19, 2007

What a week!

Howdy,

So let's get to it. Abby was over 13 and a half pounds at the beginning of the week! But from there Abby start feeling crummy. She started teething which turned Abby from her usual happy self to the "I'm in pain and don't know why" Abby. This was not fun. We figured it was standard behavior until around Thursday. Abby was getting more and more cranky and eventually she started sneezing and had a runny nose. Uh oh. Her first official cold. This isn't a big deal for most babies, but Abby has Chronic Lung Disease since she was on a breathing machine for so long as a preemie which means she is very susceptible to getting RSV or Respiratory Synctial Virus. RSV can kill a baby if it gets too bad. So, in true Kelly fashion, she wasted no time and took Abby in to see her pediatrician on Friday. Luckily her lungs sounded good and she just had a head cold. But on Saturday Abby kept getting worse. By Saturday night she was miserable. It broke our hearts to see Abby so uncomfortable. She sneezed so much that it made her little nose red and raw. She wanted her binki but since she couldn't breathe through her nose, she couldn't suck on it. Her eyes were puffy and she was wouldn't stop crying.
Finally, at 3:30AM we decided to take her to the Emergency Room. We feared that her cold had turned into RSV. But again, we got confirmation that it wasn't RSV. She did have some sort of viral infection though and the x - ray from her lungs looked a bit cloudy. We were told to keep Abby on the Tylenol and Ibuprofen as well as an inhaler to fight off any possible infection in the lungs.
At the end of it all, Abby weighed in at just over 13 lbs so she lost some weight from the ordeal. Kelly went to see her pediatrician again today who gave her a decongestant which has helped her sleep. She is almost back to her regular happy Abby and mommy and daddy are finally getting some sleep again. And, she officially has her two little front bottom teeth poking through! Yay...two down, and a whole mouthful left to go. Can't wait.

As far as mommy goes with her pregnancy, everything is A okay at the moment.
And daddy is back to work! Woohoo!

Here are some pics of Abby in her cute dress plus one of her sleeping on Daddy's shoulder.

Have a good week.





Tuesday, March 13, 2007

On a serious note...

Hi Abby Fans,

You'd think that because I'm between jobs that I would have all this time right? Nope! I am now tackling that never ending "honey do" list and man is it long. I am happy to be able to tag along to a few of Abby's appointments though. In a few minutes we're off to her feeding and occupational therapy appointments. Last week I was able to go with Kelly and Abby to see Abby's neurosurgeon.
I am afraid that we're going to have another surgery. Abby has another cyst in her head. Remember that at birth she had a grade IV brain bleed and as a result has hydrocephalus which is when the fluid from the brain can't escape. The shunt is in place to drain that fluid but sometimes these other puddles, or cysts show up during the first few years of life. So our doctor has to literally go into that puddle and poke a hole in the floor of it so it drains out to where to the shunt it so it can drain out. Sounds easy, but this is in fact brain surgery. Another brain surgery. And... it's right before her birthday.
Luckily the cyst hasn't caused her any discomfort as of now and she is still the same happy Abby. She weighs over 13 lbs now! She is eating very well and really likes all the stage 2 foods. She loves prunes and applesauce, she loves the apples and chicken combo (weird), and of course she's a huge fan of the macaroni and cheese.
Please keep Abby in your prayers and I'll keep you all posted regarding the surgery which is in mid April. And we were just getting through RSV Season too and were getting so excited to parade our Little Miss Magic all around town. Abby will come through shining like always though.
Mommy is doing well with the pregnancy...all is well....

I have to go! We're late!

Enjoy the pics...

Uh Oh! Abby loves the red vines!


Abby and Daddy on the family walk this past Sunday. RSV Season is almost over!!!


Here are some from about a month ago that I think are worth posting again!



Tuesday, March 06, 2007

FINALLY!

Sorry to take so long friends,

On Monday, my company closed its doors so needless to say, it's been a bit rough. But I think you can take one guess what my remedy is for all this craziness. Indeed, it's our Little Miss Magic. That little nugget and her mommy make everything else seem insignificant. So without further adieu, here we go...

Abby and Mommy on a walk



Abby in her stroller



And look at this little face...!!!



Have a great week everyone.

Monday, March 05, 2007

A little more time!

Good Morning and Happy Monday Friends,

I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry that I don't have more!
Some family came over to visit last night and since I got terrible sleep on Saturday night I was pooped.

Abby is doing great. She is teething now and she gets really fussy at night. But other than that she just keeps getting cuter and cuter. She is really starting to scoot around on the floor now as well. I think there's a way to post a video on this thing so that is my goal for this week. In the mean time though I will post some pics tonight.

Take care. We love you all!

The Gaya's

 
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