Today was a set back in establishing Hope's feeds. They put her on Q2 this morning and began feeding her for one hour, every two hours. She was fine until the second feed, she then began to heave and barf profusely. It was pretty sad to watch, it was followed by an outfit and blanket change. An hour later I tried to introduce the bottle again with the OT, she took 12ml from the bottle! After this, she barfed and received her third outfit of the day.
They then took her back to Q1 to give her stomach a break and will try Q2 in the morning again. I talked with the cardiologist about bottle feeding today. It seems like a waste of time to me when I want to nurse her eventually. He agreed to let me try as long as I use the breast that had mastitis and has very poor flow. That will make it easier for Hope and may help me out as well.
Tonight while Hope was fussy and screaming, I decided to give nursing a try and she latched! I had to take her off as I needed her to be weighed first, they have to track how much she's taking. After the nurse weighed her, we tried again and she eventually latched for a minute. She's just as successful at nursing as she is at bottle feeding. I think we're going to drop the bottle feeding and focus on nursing. She's not allowed to try for more than 10 minutes at a time as it tires her out and she burns too many calories. It sounds funny, but it's true! Please pray that she catches on to nursing and we won't have to give her full feeds through the feeding tube.
I also inserted my second feeding tube today. On my first attempt, it came out Hope's mouth and scared me a little. The second attempt was successful though, I'll try again when we change this tube in one week. They still hope to send us home next Saturday if we meet some criteria. Hope needs to reach Q3 feeding (feeding for one hour every three hours), gain some weight, and not barf too often. Please join us in praying for these things.
I'm ready for tomorrow, I brought a new batch of clean clothes for Hope. I thought I had too many clothes before she started barfing. Now that we go through 3 outfits in one day, I think I have just enough!
Can't tell you how thrilled I am to read that Hope latched today!!!! Good girl :)! What a gift and sweet opportunity to bond - that's so awesome that you pursued that for your warrior. Way to go. Also so glad to hear you have people sending you coffee cards... I remember receiving those and what a relief and blessing they were. Praying with you for all these things, and for healing and sleep and peace. May your faith be bolstered and strengthened each day. In prayer and faith, Annie in t.o.
ReplyDeleteYeah Hope! What a great step in the right direction!
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