Tuesday, July 22nd - Who Needs Drugs, I Have Mom

Good news, Kinley did not throw up her multi-vitamin with iron supplement this morning. She is going to need that nutrition now that she's on a diet of straight breast milk. Her PICC line is still in her left arm, but it is only there in case of an emergency. Once they feel Kinley is stable enough with only her feedings they will remove the PICC line because it could be a possible source of infection in the future.

Kinley has a new doctor. Dr. O started his two week rotation with Kinley yesterday. Dr. O is not new to Children's Mercy, but he did just return from serving in our armed forces. During rounds Dr. O decided to move Kinley's ativan doses to every 12 hours and leave her methadone and erythromycin doses the same as yesterday. He also has orders put in to begin compressing Kinley's feedings. Today Kinley will receive 46 ccs per hour for two hours and then she will have one hour where she does not receive any food. Then the feeding cycle will continue with two hours on and one hour off.

Kathy and Kinley had another breast feeding session, this time with the lactation nurse. Kinley is still having some problems with finding her comfort level with breast feeding so they try a nipple cover that will give Kinley the more familiar feel of a bottle. It seemed to work as Kinley would latch on more often, but we still don't think she is really getting anything out. Kinley ends up getting a bit worn out and the practice session comes to an end.

A few hours later Nancy, the occupational therapist, comes by to see if Kinley is ready for a bottle feeding. This time it is Kathy's turn to feed Kinley. We have had our guesses, but today confirms that Kinley does not need any sedative when she is around her mother. Kinley fell asleep as soon as she was snuggled up next to her mommy and while this is extremely cute it can cause some problems when you are trying to feed. Nancy and Kathy work together and find that the best way for Kathy to feed Kinley will be to sit her up on Kathy's lap so she is not leaning against her mommy. In this position Kinley will remain awake and therefore able to eat. And eat she did, Kinley finished her 10 cc bottle quickly and quietly.

Another example of Kathy's relaxing effect on her daughter is that Kinley always poops when her mom is around. The last two days they have actually been explosions in her diaper. Once while Kathy was stretching Kinley's leg and once while Kathy was leaning over Kinley talking to her. We joke that I will be the one who has to always feed Kinley and Kathy will be responsible for making sure she goes to sleep.

Kinley's residuals (the amount of food left in her stomach after a feeding) have been great today. At 3:00 pm she only had 1.5 ccs remaining and at 6:00 pm she had 4.5 ccs. This means that Kinley is processing her feedings of breast milk very well. Way to go baby girl! Keep up the good work!

Sofie Update: Sofie's repair surgery was pushed back to late this morning. The surgery lasted 2 hours and went very well, according to the surgeon. He is hoping to extubate Sofie tomorrow and he thinks that she will probably only need one week to recover. Thank you for all of the prayers, positive thoughts and well wishes.