Post Xmas News

Hello everyone. We hope your holiday was as wonderful as ours. Not a lot happened during the festivities as far as Amelia's progress goes, but it was a nice holiday. She was weaned down on her Os to 2&3/4 LPM (from 3LPM) and is handling it fine. She's 14lbs 2 ozs now. She had lots of visitors - Gparents, aunts & uncles, and lots of nurses playing with her; she loved being the center of attention. She got lots of cool clothes and toys and helped open some of her own presents on Christmas Day. (We'll have to post those pics when we get them downloaded.)

Xmas Eve, I got off work early and met Xina at the hospital, where the first gift she got was a box of baby food of carrots and green beans. Yea! She was wide awake and happy, so we tried the carrots first. Xina first introduced them combining it with the formula, but AE didn't like that much. But when she just started spooning just the carrots by themselves AE seemed to first wonder at, then like the new taste. She went on to eat about a qtr or third of the bottle before getting too fussy, but it was a really nice success. It turned her cannula plastic orange, but it was well worth it.

We went home at shift change for dinner with the family, and I went back to the hospital for a little bit after dinner, just to watch for Santa Claus with her. Alas, I fell asleep, too, and missed his coming to the pod. But he left a small stocking with toys and a blanket for her and all the kids on the floor. He's awfully quick about it. And he still left her still more presents at our house.

Xmas day we got to her a little late, but Gma was already there and holding her. So we opened some of her presents (she really liked holding the bows) and she was happy and wondering what was going on like any other 5 month old baby.

She's sitting very well now, and her legs seem to be gaining strength. She's holding her sceptre in her hands (it's plastic/rubber hammerish thing with which they hit her back and chest for CPT) and doing other things like that and we're really encouraged by her strength. She focuses well and anyone who will talk to her - she loves the interaction.

She had carrots everyday, though none as successful as the first day. The next she was too tired, and only ate a few bites. The 3rd day she was sleeping, but awoken; she hates to be disturbed. To prove it, she fussed herself up and choked, which then cause a meltdown during which time she had to be bagged and suctioned. We tried again yesterday, hoping she had forgotten the previous day's event, and she was doing well for a while. then, the gas in her stomach caused and eruption and orange stomach contents spewed out like Mt Vesuvius. This time, we were ready and the nurse immediately "vented" her, which is a way to get all the excess air out of her stomach. This excess air is caused by the cannula and the main reason AE has been having spit up/throw up problems. Now, she is vented (burped through he g-tube) before, sometimes during, and always after her feeds. This has helped tremendously on her ability to keep her food down. She's been doing really well since they started that order.

Today, Xina will start on green beans and see if those are acceptable to our Princess Prissiness. Also, she had an echocardiagram to look at the hypertension today, and we should have those results this evening or tomorrow. that will measure if the medicine is having any effect and give us an idea of where to go next.

Xina's family and my folks have taken good care of us during the holidays; grammy has been a cooking fiend, making sure everyone eats and Xina doesn't have to worry about a lot. The others have been watching after the dogs and keeping us occupied to keep our minds off not having AE at home yet. We thank them a lot for their presence and their current occupation of preoccupation.