Happy Second Birthday, Anna Banana!

Anna turned 2 on December 3rd. I had to work that day but spent a lot of time reflecting on the day of her birth and the events that have followed. These have no doubt been two of the hardest yet most rewarding years of my life. As I lay in a hospital bed day after day, week after week, month after month trying to get to a place where Anna could safely be born healthy I only dreamed of the moment I would finally get to hold her. I knew that if only I could make it to 30 weeks, then 32 weeks, then 34 weeks, then 36, then 38 that I would be able to bring home a healthy happy baby. Nobody ever tells you that making it full term doesn't guarantee you anything. So if there is one lesson life with Anna has taught me thus far it is that nothing in life is guaranteed. It has been hard and exhausting and an emotional roller coaster but I wouldn't trade a second of it. Because of this journey I have laughed harder, cried harder, dreamed further, loved stronger, and believed more. I have not only watched Anna grow but I have watched myself, Kenneth, and Carly grow also. We have pulled together and we have triumphed. Happy Second Birthday, Anna Banana! We had a small party on Sunday with mostly family and it was perfect. The best part was that it was not at my house and so when it was over it was not my mess to clean up. Anna ate like a pig all day and I loved every minute and every bite of it.

And in other news...We finally had our appointment with GI. I was able to voice my concerns over how things were handled after the tube placement and with the vomiting, etc. and really felt my concerns were heard and we were able to remedy the situation (I hope). Anna will be having a gastric emptying scan on Thursday. If she is emptying OK then she will need a Nissen Fundoplication. If she is not emptying OK then she will need low dose erythromcyin and if that does not work or if she does not tolerate it she will have a dilation of the end of her stomach. I am not sure what the technical name for that is. She is also getting some granulation tissue at the button site so we are using steroid cream on it 4 times a day. OK, more like maybe 2 times a day because 4 is almost impossible. Anyway, she is tolerating her feeds for now. She is getting two 8 ounce boluses daily. We are supposed to work up to three 8 ounce boluses daily which will provide 1125 calories daily. Anna is looking so much better already. It is amazing the power that nutrition has! We have been having some problems with Anna's pump (Zevex Enteralite Infinity) giving us a "no food" alarm even when the tubing is primed and the bag is full. There are not air bubbles and I have done all of the trouble shooting I can. I have cleaned the machine and all of its sensors but to no avail. It is also sounding like the motor is lagging. If I program a 250 ml bolus to go over an hour, after that hour only about 1/2 of the formula has infused. So it is taking 2 hours to do a 1 hour bolus. I called our DME company yesterday and they are sending us out a new pump today. I hope it works well. If not then we got a bad batch of bags. I have heard that can happen as well. We use Central Line Infusion out of Amarillo and they have been great so far! I hope all goes well with the scan, it is always such a joy to keep a kid NPO. It never fails that you cannot get them to eat until they aren't supposed to and then that is all they want to do. Ah, Murphy's law at work again...