Weight check please

Wow, yesterday was probably the busiest day Kinley has had since coming home from the hospital. Kevin and I were both off, so we tried to get caught up on some errands. We decided to try getting out as a family instead of one person going out and the other staying home with Kinley. It went pretty good, but Kinley was pretty tired by the time we got home.

First stop was a visit with Dr. M for me. When I was in for my 6 week post-partum visit I was told to bring Kinley in for my next appointment because Dr. M and his nurse really wanted to meet Kinley. This was the first time they got to meet her since she was delivered by the specialist downtown at St. Lukes on the Plaza. Dr. M said that Kinley was a legend and that all his colleagues at Children's Mercy know about her. That was nice to hear. Kinley also got to meet the ultrasound tech who took so many good pics of Kinley before she was born. The ultrasound tech was also the one who noticed that Kinley's heart was on the wrong side, which eventually led to the diagnosis of CDH. We are thankful that she was able to catch the abnormality early so that Kinley could get the best care possible for her. Everyone was so impressed with Kinley and could not believe how well she is doing.

After the doctor's appointment we quickly stopped to get some food for Kobi, gas for the car, ribbon for Kinley so that I can make some bows for her hair, and lunch for Kevin and I. We then headed to Kevin's parent's house to eat lunch and feed Kinley. We figured that we still had a few errands to run, and if we went home to feed Kinley we might get to cozy and push off the rest of the errands to another day. (I forgot to mention that it was raining and not a very nice day to be out and about.) Kinley only ate 2 ounces from her bottle while we were out, but Kevin and I figured it was probably just because it was a new environment for Kinley and she was not so sure what to do or think about it.

After our lunch stop it was time for Kinley to go to the doctor's office. She did not have an appointment, but I wanted to stop by and check her weight. It has been 2 weeks since we started trying to wean the NG and I just wanted to make sure that Kinley was not losing too much weight. She still looks good, but I wanted to check just to make sure. I was totally shocked when the scale said 14 lbs 13 oz. Kinley had not lost any weight, in fact she gained about 12 oz for those 2 weeks! I guess we can be a little more aggressive weaning the NG tube now.

Since I had been to my doctor, and Kinley had been to her doctor, we thought it was only fair to stop by Kobi's doctor so she did not feel left out. (I am pretty sure Kevin didn't mind that he did not have to go to a doctor.) We just picked up some heartworm tabs for Kobi, but we had to bring Kinley in so that the people at the vet's office could meet her also. Kevin and I had a pretty rough time earlier this year as far as pets go, so we got to know the vet and everyone who works there pretty well. That is a whole other story though. Anyway, they have been wanting to meet Kinley, so we were finally able to bring her in.

After running around all day it was so nice to get back home. We tried to feed Kinley once we got home, but she only took about 80 mls. I think all the running around made her pretty sleepy and she was not really in the mood to eat. Lets just say that it was not Kinley's best day as far as bottle feeding goes, but she is entitled to those days every once in a while. She did really well eating the day before, so we really can't complain.

Even though the weather was not ideal yesterday it was so nice to get out of the house as a family and get a lot crossed off of the "to-do" list. The really good news is that Kinley did not throw up once while we were out! All in all a good day. We were all really tired by the end of the day though and went to bed really early.

A new plan to wean the NG

Kevin and I are still trying hard to wean Kinley off of the NG tube. She is still doing pretty good, but Jami, Kinley's OT from the Infant-Toddler program wanted us to make some changes. Today was Kinley's regularly scheduled biweekly OT visit. It went pretty well from what I was told, but again I had to miss the appointment, so this is just what I have been told.

First of all we were told to increase the rate of Kinley's night feed. We were giving her milk at a rate of 55 mls/hr, but we have been told to increase that until we are at the point where we can give 200 mls/hr. Giving a faster tube feed should allow us to give Kinley more bottles during the day. When the night tube feed ran slower we had to start it fairly early in the evening to make sure we got it all done in time, some days the tube feed would last for 8 hours or more. Now the goal is to add 2 extra bottles during the day, one earlier in the day and one later at night. Hopefully by shortening the length of the night tube feed (by increasing the rate) we will be able to get those extra 2 bottles in. We were also told that we have to stop feeding Kinley when she falls asleep. This is a bummer since Kinley did some of her best eating when she was only half awake. Jami said that if we continue to feed Kinley when she is basically asleep we will have problems down the road. We learned from an earlier visit with Jami that falling asleep when eating is a baby's way of refusing the bottle and we could run into trouble down the road when Kinley is able to speak her mind about refusing bottles. Lastly, we were told to limit bottle feeding sessions to 20 minutes. That should not be too hard since Kinley does most of her eating in the first 10-15 minutes anyway. By adding in those 2 extra bottles, which would mean that Kinley would get between 6-7 bottles per day, the goal is to get Kinley taking around 600mls by bottle. The rest of the milk could be given over 1 hour at night if we get up to the 200mls/hr rate. Sorry if this is kind of confusing, or more detailed than you are really interested in.

On a side note, and having nothing do to with feedings, Kinley rolled over several times today by herself! I can't believe I missed that too, but I had to work. That darn work, if only there were fewer bills to pay I would not have to work as much. Oh well, at least Kevin was there to cheer Kinley on.

Seems like I had more to post, but just can't remember right now.

Slow week, busy weekend

Did I catch your attention with the super cute picture? The picture is courtesy of Kinley's Great Aunt Karen. She took this picture last weekend while visiting Kinley. Kinley is very lucky that most of Kevin's extended family lives in the area and has been able to visit Kinley a few times already, however my extended family lives in Minnesota. Last weekend three of my aunts made the 8-11 hour drive down to Kansas to meet Kinley for the first time. As you can tell from the picture Kinley loved all the extra attention!

On Saturday night Kinley had her second birthday party to go to. Yes, she is quite popular already. I think we will have our hands full when she gets a little older. Kinley's friend, Brecken turned 1 and his parents had a little celebration for him. Kinley did really well at Brecken's house. We had to start her tube feed shortly after arriving, but that is no big deal for us anymore. Kinley watched Brecken open his gifts and then it was cake and ice cream time. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Brecken and watched him eat a piece of cake. I guess Kinley thought that if we were not going to let her have any cake or ice cream, then she was not going to let us have any either. Just then Kinley let out a little cough, the kind of cough that Kevin and I recognize as "I am about to throw up, so if you don't want a huge mess on your hands you better find a sink pretty quickly". I was holding Kinley at the time, so I made my way to the bathroom and made it in time I guess. I was able to stop Kinley from throwing up on the floor, but she did get both of us a little dirty, and the rest made it in the sink. The NG came out, so we had to stop her tube feed. Needless to say, Kevin and I did miss out on the cake and ice cream. We left shortly after Kinley threw up to go home, clean up, put the NG back down and restart the tube feed. Even though we had to make an early exit it was still nice to get out of the house with Kinley and see friends. Though the last couple of outings have been a little rough, we are still thankful that we were able to take Kinley out for a little while. (If you don't remember, the first birthday party that Kinley went to a couple weeks ago went well up until the point she threw up and we had to leave that party also.) Oh well, it was fun getting out while it lasted and we are not about to stop trying. Kinley deserves to get out and have some fun!

A slow, but good week

We really didn't have much going on this week for Kinley which was nice. We all needed a little break from appointments. It has been nice to just hang out and play with Kinley at home. She is really enjoying her jumper and she has been able to do more tummy time. She is just about ready to take off with her rolling I think. She has rolled over a couple of times in her pack and play, but I think it was more of an accident when she was stretching. Either way, it seems like Kinley is less likely to throw up when she eats by bottle instead of being tube fed, so we are all enjoying that and Kinley gets a lot more play time.

We are still trying to wean Kinley off the NG tube and I guess it is going alright. She is starting to eat a little more from her bottles, but the main thing is that she is A LOT less fussy when she is trying to eat. That is a HUGE improvement and we are very thankful for that! For the past couple of days Kinley has taken a little over 400mls by bottle which is up from an average of 200mls before we started trying to wean. Kinley's goal volume is still 840mls, so we are still shy of the halfway mark via bottles, but at least we are making progress. Kinley has started to learn what hunger is and that the bottle will help fix her hunger. I think that has been the key as far as her being less fussy. The volume part will just take some more practice and patience.

Not much else to report. A quiet week is a good week as far as we are concerned.