Monday, November 21, 2011

Weight Check

It has been one month since Allie has seen her GI doctor.  He is still having us go for weight checks so this morning, we headed over there.  Allie weighed 26.6 pounds - ugggg.....she lost weight.  At our last check up(a month ago), Allie was 27.2 pounds - so she lost 6 oz.  I cannot believe it.  Why does she struggle so much to gain weight - I just don't get it.

Allie did grow a little bit in height but she still should not have lost weight.  I'm nervous to increase her feeds because I don't want any vomiting but I'm thinking I might just have to bite the bullet and give her more feedings. She still on the blenderized diet plus we are adding Duocal to her blends. 

That's pretty much all I have today - I'm a bit discouraged because I work so hard at feeding her, and you tubie mom's know it's hard work to keep up with tube feedings day in and day out.  Allie goes back in to see her GI in a month and I'm praying she gains weight!

Hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving!






Monday, November 7, 2011

Quick Update

It's been about 2 weeks since I've updated and not a whole lot has changed.  Allie is continuing to do wonderful and handling all of her feedings.  We are still doing 4 feedings a day with 5 oz each time.  I am going to start increasing her volume intake shortly so maybe we can get down to 3 feedings, but we'll see. 

Allie is continuing with her speech therapy.  She started therapy through the school system a couple months ago and everything is going really well.  She goes to speech therapy once a week for a half hour.  Allie is making good progress and the therapist is impressed with her.  I think we still have a long way to go on her speech but seeing progress is very reassuring.

I heard back from the Dietitian at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.  After our last visit, they wanted me to email them her blenderized recipes so they could evaluate them and make sure they were nutritionally sound.  I had no problem sending them my recipes but I reminded them that I had worked with our Dietician through the Marshfield Clinic.  Anyway, I heard back from the Dietician at the CHW and she confirmed that everything looked great with Allie's recipes.  It was like icing on the cake for me to hear that everything was good with the recipes because after our last appointment, I think they were seriously questioning my ability to feed Allie properly.  Anyway, that's water under the bridge and i don't plan to swim in that water anymore with them :)

Allie's oral intake remains slow but steady.  There is no real development in it but it hasn't decreased at all either.  It's just very sporadic - that's about the only way I know how to sum it up.

Overall though, Allie is doing amazing.  Allie enjoyed about 10 minutes of trick or treating and then she slept through the rest.  Guess candy just doesn't entice her like the rest of us.  Here are a couple pictures of our Halloween this year. 

My little witches

Allie always referred to herself as "THE GOOD WITCH"

Chloe the "skull witch"

The girls getting ready for the neighborhood hay ride

Allie and I out trick or treating on the hay ride

The Berndt's - October 2011

Yup, that's Matt and I :)