The year 2010 was supposed to be a wonderful year. We had big dreams in 2009 and were excited about the impeding arrival of our new baby girl. Piper couldn't wait to be a big sister. I couldn't wait to have a break from my PhD studies and was looking forward to being a mom to a newborn again. Our expectations were high.All that changed on January 11, 2010 when we discovered that Kiera (Altona's January 9th New Year's baby) had serious medical problems. It has been a year of many downs and some ups and a lot of learning along the way.
Over the last couple of months, Kiera's health has improved in that she no longer experiences hypoglycemia. This improvement is largely due to the fact that she was on 24-h continuous feeds via a feeding pump. Just before Christmas, we began the long and slow process of getting her from 100% g-tube feeding to oral feeding.
As of today, Kiera is still not interested in swallowing food, although she is swallowing her own saliva which is a major improvement and is retching less often. Kiera is tolerating a faster feeding rate via tube feeding and now can be "tube-free" for 7 hours per day, which we hope will result in feelings of hunger and, thus, a stronger motivation to eat.
As of today, Kiera will be in daycare with her big sister as I return to my studies. My hope is that seeing other children her own age will encourage her to try to eat. My hope is that 2011 will be the beginning of Kiera's tube-free life.
1 comment:
What an absolutely gorgeous picture of your girls! I wish you well as you return to your studies and pray for continued progress with Kiera's feeding.
Post a Comment