Wednesday, November 28, 2007

FINALLY...an update

Well we finally have the internet back. Yay! Now we can update again.

Julianne has been doing well at home. We're adjusting to life at home and making adjustments to make our lives a little easier.

Julianne has had both pediatrician and cardiologist visits since we've been home. Both doctors said she looks good. Her 02 sats are in the high 70's to mid 80's usually. She weighs 9 pounds, 15 ounces! We've also made one trip to the ER and one unscheduled doctor's visit, both for vomiting issues. As Kent mentioned, the ER visit resulted in a one night stay at the hospital and going home with no bottle feedings for the week. The doctor's visit was the day after Thanksgiving because she had a small amount of green vomit. As it turned out she had some mild constipation and that was quickly resolved.

Today, we resumed bottle feeding. She's now only allowed 5 ML every three hours. The first one she took fine...very little gagging, no vomiting. Tonight's bottle feeding did not go as well. I showed her the bottle and said, "Julianne, do you want your bottle?" She immediately gagged and then projectile vomited onto the pillow on the couch...I guess she didn't want it. We'll try again though.

Her gagging and retching continues to be an issue. Dr. Young saw her doing it at her last appointment and said she's actually refluxing her own saliva. However, she's on the highest dosages of her reflux and nausea medications so we can't go up on those right now. Usually very little comes up when she gags. Once in a while she'll throw up a good amount of formula (like tonight). Its just really hard on her and each time it wears her out. She can be wide awake then start gagging . After her whole episode she's exhausted and immediately falls asleep. I thought you may be interested in seeing Julianne's sleeping arrangements due to her reflux. We have to keep her arms swaddled while she sleeps otherwise we'll wake up to her feeding tube lying next to her in the bed. She doesn't seem to mind the Tucker Sling too much.


Julianne had a good first Thanksgiving. We spent it at home. Right now, we're not supposed to go anywhere with her other than to the doctor and for walks if the weather is good, so home is where we'll be.

I think that is all that I have to update you on for now. Its been a couple of weeks though, so if I think of something I'll post it. Hopefully, we'll be back to posting on a regular basis now.

Thank you, again, for checking in on us and for all of your prayers. We'll leave you with a couple of pictures of Julianne.

Thanksgiving Day! We have so much to be thankful for!

Julianne after Aunt Laura helped give her a bath. :)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The pictures are adorable. Julianne looks very content in all of them. We are sure she is just responding to all of the love and care you are giving her. Thanks for the continued updates.
Love,
Ernie and Carlette B

Anonymous said...

My sweet Jessica,I know you had to give up some precious sleep time to give us this post. I heard you did not make it to bed until 1:00am. Thank you. You are one of the busiest mommies I know. When your not comforting Julianne then you are cutting and crushing tablets, drawing up syringes of medication, administering those meds. One for her heart, by mouth is a drop by drop process. Sterilizing syringes,mixing up formula,changing, cleaning and refilling her feeding bag. I know that changing the tape over her tube is heart wrenching for you and painfull for Julianne. I'm sorry the doctors & nurses are not willing to take that responsibility of retaping the feeding tube on routine visits. I am praying for your strength,and that you would not grow weary. I pray that big beautiful smile of Julianne's will melt your heart even in the most trying of times.
I am thanking God for your sister Laura who has stepped in this week to help while I went back to take care of this here. What a blessing she has been to take care of all the housework, entertaining her neice, and being your extra set of eyes and hands. Jessica and Kent you are doing a wonderful job caring for your little Julianne. God chose just you two for this very special care that his little lamb Julianne requires. I love you!Grammie
PS will be back Dec 10th unless called earlier.

Anonymous said...

You are so faithful to keep us informed and I pray you will not overextend yourselves. Julianne is beautiful! We love seeing the pictures of her. We continue to pray for all of you ... including your helper! Way to go, Laura!

Judy & Neal

Anonymous said...

Jess......i just can't get over how beautiful she is. Thinking about you all non stop.

Deah

Anonymous said...

We are all so happy with the new update. We miss you and can't wait to meet Julianne. The pictures are adorable, she is a beautiful baby.

Love from,

Your friends at Citrus Creek

Anonymous said...

thank you for the update! julianne is really growing and she's just so adorable!! i know how agonizing it is to have to watch her when she has such horrible reflux. we will continue to pray that she is healed from that quickly and her feedings become easy. we also pray for renewed strength for you and kent.
love,
erin c. and family

Anonymous said...

What a joy to see Julianne looking so healthy! We can't begin to imagine what a strain it must be to care for her at this point, but we can tell you all are doing a fabulous job of it by how strong and healthy she looks. We can't wait to meet her in person. Meanwhile, we continue to pray. Love, Sherry and Paul Z.