Abby news

Written Thursday Night, July 27th, 2006

Abby has been doing better with her feedings the past few days but still taking her sweet Abby Time to get adjusted to it all. She’s averaging around 20 to 25 cc’s each feed and busts out every once in while and takes a full bottle, which for her is a whopping 38 cc’s. We need her to bust out a bit more frequently though, and that’s where our super favorite Developmental Therapists, Karen and Kathy, who call Abby "a burnin’ hunk of love" come in to play. They have decided to kick Abby into high gear. She now gets bottle fed twice, then one feeding via the nose tube thing, (called a core pack), then two times from the bottle and so one. Before it was two times via the core pack and only once from the bottle.

We’re stepping it up for two reasons. 1 – To help our Abby Girl get the show on the road. 2 - We’re running out of time and we’re running out of reasons to tell the insurance company that we need to keep her in the NICU. See, Abby is doing pretty well in every aspect except for feeding. Unfortunately, there is a way around the feeding problem and if her feeding issues are the only thing standing in the way of Abby going home, the insurance company will push for the docs to use it. That "way around it" is called a G tube, which is a gastric feeding tube that gets placed in Abby’s side and she is fed via this tube. Many have asked, "why not just send her home with that tube that goes in her nose since that’s how she gets her milk now?" Good question… The problem with that though is that she can pull that out and once it’s out, you can’t just shove those things back in and hope all is well. You have to get an x ray done to make sure it’s placed in the belly and not the lungs. I don’t have an x ray machine lying around my house and unless you guys do and can roll that puppy on over, that option is out. So yeah, it’s on to the G tube. Kelly and I were really hoping that with all Abby’s been through, she would be G tube free but it’s not looking that way. And frankly, we’re really warming up to the idea because we know we would get to take her home sooner. Besides, the G tube is a temporary fix and when she becomes too tired or fussy to take the bottle, we can use the G tube as a back up plan to get her the necessary milk she need. Many many little ones go home on G tubes and many live with them and are doing great. And again, if it gets our Abby home sooner, I’m all about it.

So there it is friends. G Tubes. Google that one for yet more higher learning if you want. I can’t wait to get Abby home. She is indeed a burnin’ hunk of love and I adore her more than words can describe.

We love you all!
Us

PS – To Karen, Laura, Jennie and Jeana, Abby’s primary nurses whom we think the world of…we miss you guys! We’re back in room 210 these days so hurry up and get back to work!