Mel & Company: It's tune up time again!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

It's tune up time again!

Well, we have had Summer home from her last trip to the hospital for a month (almost to the day) and are back again. A few weeks ago the doc gave the okay for us to come to clinic only every other week because she is doing so FANTASTIC! I knew that with a change like this, another hiccup was in our near future. Call me pesimistic...I have been told this is just how things work around here :)

As usual, we have been increasing Summer's formula through her NG tube slowly. With this last week's increase (from 35 ML's per hour to 38, then up to 40) she did great...until Sunday night. Summer usually will sleep through the night, sometimes as long as 10 hours at a time, but that night she woke up crying. I went to check on her and she was soaked from brim to brim. Her diaper was so full, it couldn't hold anymore. I did a full head to toe/bedding change and tucked her back in. After about another 4 hours, she woke again crying. Back in to her room I went for the full change again. After another 4 hours, the same routine. By this point, she was shakey, her lips were dry, and she was licking them f, uriously. She was also very fussy. I had to change her and throw her in the car to take little Tom to the doctor. I put a bottle in some hot water and away we went. When we got to the doc's office, she sucked the bottle down, but was still fussy. She was soaked again.

I called her clinic nurse....time to bring her back to the hospital. Summer had had so much diarhea, she was getting dehydrated. Fortunately I was able to recognize the signs easier this time and we caught it before she got too sick, or lost much weight.

We spent the night last night with her food turned off. This morning we started at 5 ML's per hour and have been increasing it up 5 ML's more every 2 hours. Her labs looked decent, dispite the hiccup. so we may only be here for a day or two more...let's cross our fingers.e

Today was also a scheduled Occupational Therapy appt. so they came to us. Summer is doing pretty well, considering her 3+ months stuck in bed. She is definitely VERY social...she smiles, coos, responds, etc. The testing did show that she is a little behi nd in her fine motor skills/desire to grasp at things. The OT said she should come alo ng nicely with a little encouragement and this is no surprise for a baby like her. She is so cute and sweet...her smile brightens up any room she is in :) Ahhhh, like my cliche?

Enjoy some recent photos of her below...