Sunday, July 6th - A Big Girl Bed

When we arrive we find something new at Kinley's bed station. A CRIB! Kinley has graduated from her baby bed with a heater to a real crib. Congratulation Baby Girl! They just grow up so quickly. During the night George (Georgianna - Kinley's night nurse) ordered Kinley a crib and got her all moved in. Kinley is very happy with her new place. I think she was starting to feel cramped in the old one.







We arrived early this morning, right after the morning shift change, to spend as much time with Kinley as possible because Kathy is returning to work tomorrow. Kathy hates that she will not be able to spend as much time with Kinley while she is in the hospital, but this will allow her to take more time off when Kinley is able to come home.

During rounds today we found that Kinley was supposed to be weaned on her versed (sedative) drip yesterday, but the order did not get run (or processed) until early this morning. Children's Mercy started converting to a new computer system on June 25th and everyone is still learning all of the ins and outs. Since Kinley's versed drip was just weaned this morning, nothing will be done to it today. The biggest change to Kinley's care is that Dr. K has decided to stop the suction on her OG tube. The OG tube is the one running from Kinley's mouth to her stomach and ever since Kinley has been at Children's Mercy it has been sucking out the contents of her stomach. Now that Kinley's stomach contents are clear (this means that things are passing through her stomach and not simply sitting there) it means that she should be close to being ready to eat. The only issue now with her stomach contents is the amount. To see if Kinley is ready to eat, Dr. K will stop the suction on her OG and see if she can process everything (excessive saliva) that enters her stomach. If she can process everything, without throwing up more than normal, they will pull out her OG tube and begin to think about feedings. When Kinley does begin to eat they will place another tube that runs to her stomach. This will allow them to drip milk directly into her stomach since she will most likely have problems with swallowing. I know that was a lot of news, but at least it means that Kinley is moving in the right direction. To finish rounds, Dr. K informs us that today is his last day with Kinley. His two week rotation is at an end and tomorrow Kinley's new attending doctor will be Dr. C.

Most of Kinley's day was spent being held by either her mommy or her daddy. So needless to say, Kinley has had a very good day. She did throw up a couple of times, but Liz (Kinley's day nurse) assures us that they are small amounts compared to what Dr. K and Dr. C will be looking for in making a decision about removing her OG tube. This does not mean Kinley's OG will definitely be removed tomorrow, but we will keep our fingers crossed.