Puddles

Maggie's been getting better by the day since her surgery! We figured out that part of the reason she wasn't really eating is because she didn't like the pre-mixed formula we were offering her. (The company had sent us a "complimentary" case, and we were trying to use it up.) When we ran out, we went back to the powdered stuff we'd been giving her all along. Lo and behold, Peanut is back to taking 1-2 ounces per feeding by mouth! She was just trying to tell us the pre-mixed stuff was gross! (And I can't blame her, it really does smell worse than the powdered.)

Maggie has been great about trying new textures in her mouth. She shows interest in food when she sees other people eating. So far, her "repertoire" includes: cucumber, red pepper, green pepper, carrot sticks, cheezit, chocolate, crackers, watermelon, blueberry, strawberry and pretzels. She doesn't actually SWALLOW any of the food-- in fact, if a little tiny piece softens up and gets into her mouth, she wretches and gags. But it's a HUGE accomplishment that she picks the foods up, puts them into her mouth, and gums them for a while. Kids with oral aversion sometimes have NO desire to have anything in their mouth at all. I'm happy to see her try, even if she's not ready to actually eat.

Maggie is supposed to get four 4 ounce feedings during the day. She just seems uncomfortable afterwards, and we've seen her gag and wretch (both things the doctor told me were NOT okay). First, I thought we were running the feeding in too quickly. But even when we slowed it down considerably, she gets very uncomfortable at the end, so that leads me to think it's a volume issue. I summoned my nursing druthers, and decreased her feedings to 3.5 and she seems more comfortable. She is only missing 2 ounces from the grand total they would like her to get, which translates into 44 calories per day. My theory is that since she isn't throwing up anymore, and is actually eating some baby food puree, she is actually keeping in more calories NOW than before surgery. The scale will let us know when we see how much she has gained, I suppose.

We have been having a little trouble with the overnight feedings for the last 2 nights. We hook up the pump at 9pm, and Maggie gets about 13 ounces all night long. The extension tubing for the GTube has two ports: one for the feeding pump, and the other smaller one for medications. Well, the past 2 mornings, we have woken up to find Magoo sleeping in a puddle of formula. The small port somehow opens up and the pump doesn't know it, so it just keeps on pumping formula right into the crib! I had read that this happens, and knew it was almost inevitable, but the fact that it's happened two nights in a row makes me wonder if we are doing something wrong! I have wrapped the connection in a towel, in the hopes that it would help protect the port, but even that didn't work.

In Magoo's defense, she is what I would call an "active" sleeper. She never wakes up in the same spot I put her down in. She likes to sleep on her side, and rolls back and forth, and from tummy to back. She scoots up to the top of the crib in her sleep. It's actually really cute to watch, but that may be the cause of the port dislodging. Dan is going to call the surgeon's office once business hours hit, and I have reached out to the online micropreemie support group I belong to. There's got to be a way to fix this! I worry about the calories that she's missed these last two nights. Because the pump doesn't meet any resistance, it just keeps going, and who KNOWS how many ounces of formula are on the mattress instead of in Magoo's tummy? Dan started the feeding last night at 9. I checked the connection at 10:30 before going to bed. Dan checked it at 12:30 before he went to bed. All was fine. But sometime between then and 6am this morning...

Hopefully we'll be able to figure it out. It's just weird because we didn't have ANY problem for the entire first week!

Other than that, Maggie is her happy self. She has been extra clingy since the surgery. I sometimes feel like I can't pee, shower, or I don't know: LEAVE THE ROOM!!! It's been hard to be back at work-- she kind of lost it when she realized I was leaving yesterday morning. She also has been a little off her sleep schedule, and isn't napping as well as usual. I seem to be the only one who can get her to sleep. One night, Dan tried for a full 45 minutes, then I went up, and Maggie was asleep in 3.5 minutes! Who could blame her? I mean, I am an AWESOME mom, right? No, seriously, I think she's still a little traumatized from the surgery. The last thing she remembers, I handed her over to someone in blue scrubs, and she woke up in terrible pain! Of course she doesn't want me to leave, and doesn't want to go to sleep! She's afraid it will happen again!

(Shhh, don't tell, but there's a teeny part of me that secretly LOVES that she only wants me. I know it's twisted, but I kind of like it... shhhh!)

~Sara