Happy Two Months!!

It's almost unbelievable, but Miss Rebekah celebrated her two month birthday today! She had a very low-key day, but did get to see Grampy and Grammy last night and this morning.

Justin loves his sister!

Rebekah is doing much better with her eating. Thank you all for praying; we are very excited to say that after a rough 24 hours immediately following the tube placement, Rebekah has done very well! The tube Rebekah has right now is an Ng tube (goes in through her nose to her stomach), and it is a more temporary type of Ng tube. Because it is more temporary, it is very stiff and does not stay taped to her cheek well. Rebekah surprised us (well, not really if you remember this) by pulling her tube out Thursday night. Thankfully it went in relatively easily and we were able to continue feeding her through the night. We are hoping that the doctor will replace it with a more flexible type of Ng tube that is designed to stay in for a few weeks at a time when we go for our follow-up appointment on Wednesday.

These two turkeys love their sister, too! Zachary and Aaron love to pose with Rebekah.

Speaking of Wednesday, we have another follow-up appointment with our cardiologist also. The two doctor's offices are conveniently located in the same building, so we will be able to go from one to the other easily. I know we will have an echo done on Wednesday, but I am not sure if there will be any other tests done.

Mommy loves the headwraps with bows! :)

We are hoping for a good weight gain when we have our check-up this week. I'm personally hoping for at least 8 ounces....we'll let you know!!

Have a blessed Lord's Day tomorrow!

Nancy

Good News, Bad News

The good news is.....I am posting! The bad news is....I was going to post pictures and couldn't get them uploaded. I will try again tomorrw. :)

Now for the real good news/bad news. The good news is that Rebekah gained six, yes, count them - six! - ounces last week. That was the largest weight gain in her life...literally! :) We were very excited that Rebekah gained so much. She probably won't find that very exciting in 20 years, but we're cheering for it now!

And now, for the rest of the story.....since Sunday Rebekah has been much more tired during her feedings. Actually, she has been tired to the point of drinking about half of her bottle and then sleeping for 15 or 20 minutes only to wake up hungry and finish the bottle. She has also been spitting up her medications about once a day, and that's not helping her tummy issues!

The solution? A feeding tube. Yes, I know, it's not the route we had hoped to take, but it seems that Rebekah is telling us that it's time. For now we have an Ng tube (nasogastric tube) which is inserted in her nose and ends in her stomach. The good news is that all of her medications and milk can be sent effortlessly to her stomach with no effort on Rebekah's part. The bad news is that it significantly increases Rebekah's reflux because the tube prevents the valve at the top of the stomach from closing completely.

So the plan is to feed Rebekah by bottle as much as she will take in twenty minutes. If it is at least 50cc's (almost 2 ounces) then we call it a good feed. If it is less than 50cc's, we will push the rest into her tube with a syringe. During the night Rebekah will be getting continuous feeds of 15cc's per hour to see if we can boost her growth and weight gain a little more.

Since the feeding tube was inserted this morning, Rebekah has had three episodes of spitting up significant amounts of her feedings along with some medication. They all occured during bottle feeding, not while she was on continuous feeds. We are waiting to see how she does through the night and will be talking with the doctor in the morning to reevaluate the plan.

We would appreciate your prayers for Rebekah's growth and comfort and also for wisdom for us and for Rebekah's doctors as we try to find a feeding plan that works for Rebekah.

Nancy

Another week of appointments

Just a quick update.

Rebekah has been doing ok with eating, as far as the volume that she is taking in. We are not sure if she is gaining any weight. We have a weight check on Wednesday morning. I will be surprised if it is anything big. She still is doing a lot of sleeping and seems to tire fast. I have had several feedings where she has fallen asleep in the middle and taken a 15 min nap then wanted to finish. We will see how she weighs in hopefully I will be surprised and she will have had good growth this week.

Also Rebekah has an appointment on Wednesday to she the GI doctor. We are waiting to see what their thoughts are on Rebekah and where they want to head from here.

We will continue to update you as we find out more.

D

Plan C, D, or maybe....Q!

What a difference a week makes! Last week we were excited about Rebekah's eating and saw a definite improvement in the amount she was taking at each feeding. Since this weekend, we have seen a significant difference as well.....just not in the right direction! Rebekah has been eating less at each feeding and has been very agitated during most of her feedings - a sign that appears to indicate that her reflux medications are not controlling her reflux adequately.

Yep! That's our sister! Justin and Aaron love to help take care of Rebekah.

Rebekah has also been more lethargic this week and has been sleeping more than she was last week. We decided to blame that on the less frequent doses of Lasix that Rebekah has been getting since last week's cardiologist visit. Rebekah's doctors today decided to go back to the original dose and frequency to see if that can get us back to where we were last week before we made the changes. Of course, it doesn't help at all when Rebekah spits up immediately following her medications!

Sleeping in spite of my brothers!

The official weight check numbers for this week were consistent....consistently low! In the previous week, Rebekah had only gained three ounces, and this week she decided to make a repeat performance. Rebekah gained three ounces this week to bring her up to seven pounds and three ounces. We didn't measure length today, but one or two of her little outfits are getting snug in the length, so she may be adding a little growth in that direction.

Silly monkeys!

In developmental news, Rebekah has started to smile just a little bit in response to Drew or I. It is fast and fleeting, so I haven't really been able to capture it on camera yet. I'm still trying, though! Rebekah is also getting better at holding her head up for a few seconds at a time. Because of her reflux, we haven't had much tummy time at all, but she does lift her head when Drew or I put her up to our shoulders.

Almost everyone! Caleb bailed out at the last minute. :)

We will have another weight check next Wednesday at our pediatrician's office. In the meantime, we are being referred to a gastroenterologist (GI doctor) to figure out what the next plan for feeding Rebekah will be. Some days it feels like we are swinging on a pendulum between good days and bad, plan A and plan Z, but it is comforting to know that God has a plan for Rebekah. He has had that plan since before she was born, before we even knew she existed. And we are so thankful for the doctors that He included in that plan to help us care for Rebekah. We have been blessed by a truly amazing team of doctors and medical personnel, and we are grateful for them!

Zachary bought this outfit for Rebekah. She looks so cute in it!

Please continue to keep Rebekah in your prayers in the next few weeks. The feeding tube is definitely on the table as an option again, and we are willing to pursue that option if it will be best for Rebekah. Please pray for wisdom for all of the doctors involved, for Drew and I as we care for Rebekah, and for Rebekah. Pray specifically for Rebekah that her tummy issues will be resolved and she will be able to grow as she needs to.

Thank you to everyone who continues to pray for our family and especially for Rebekah. We appreciate you all more than you know!

Nancy

P.S. Click on over to our family blog here for new pictures of the boys!

Wednesday check up

Pray for Rebekah; she has a weight check today, and she has had a couple of down days this week. She has been extra sleepy and having trouble eating. Hopefully Dr. DeMoss will have some helpful answers today. Will post when she gets home later.

D