The G-Tube Has Left the Body!!

Yup! You read that correctly! After nearly 6 years of having a g-tube poking out of that precious belly, getting hung on shirts, cramping her belly-sliding style, it is gone!! Gosh, I really just can't even believe we're at this point.  It seems like just yesterday I was crying over not being able to feed my baby like "normal", cleaning up a bed full of formula after a pump feeding disconnected in the middle of the night, and stopping gravity feeds because she just couldn't stop gagging and retching! Ok, who am I kidding? It does NOT seem like yesterday! This took a LOOOOOONNNNNNNGG time! It took a lot of work.  It took a lot of therapy. It took a lot of tears. It took a lot of prayer! But on Wednesday, February 5th 2014 we walked into Dr. A's office and told him Julianne hasn't used her g-tube since January 22nd, 2013.  It was a day I thought I'd never see! I used to joke that I didn't want to have to puree her wedding cake and it looks like I won't have to after all! Julianne now eats all solid foods.  No more purees.  The no purees thing started I guess around May-ish.  We started doing solid lunches. Then in August/September it was boom, bang all solid food.  It really surprised me how fast she went from a little solid food to all solids considering how long it took everything else feeding related. God has carried Julianne such a long way from where she started.  We are so very, very, thankful for this huge milestone!!!! Seriously....this is huge.

Julianne was not scared about her appointment at all.  She could hardly wait for February 5th to get here!

Excitement building in the elevator!

Waiting...

 waiting...

 waiting...

 still waiting.

It's gone!!!!!!

 She was so ready for that g-tube to be gone.  But you know what she wasn't ready for?  The gas that gets expelled through that hole now! I'm sorry, but I have no other way to describe it besides "tooting". Yes, her belly is tooting.  I was cracking up laughing. CRACKING UP! Julianne was disturbed to say the least.  "WHY IS IT DOING THAT!!!!"  This continued all day on Wednesday, a little yesterday and only once today. Poor girl...it was pretty funny though. I tried to make her feel better by telling her she's the only person I've ever know who can toot through her belly!! She was pretty excited when the toots returned to their usual location this morning ha ha! She also hates getting the gauze changed, but there's nothing we can do about that.  It's either keep it covered or have gross shirts all day long.  Dr. A said if it is still leaking in two weeks that she will need to see a surgeon to have it closed.  We are praying that will not be the case! Please join us in praying that it will close easily on its own. 

G-tube removal was such a big deal for us we spent the whole day celebrating.

 We went to the mall and she picked out a new dress!

 We met daddy for lunch!

 We rode the carousel!

 We picked up daddy from work and headed to...

 CHUCKEE CHEESE!

Happy G-tube removal day Julianne! 

We love you so much and we're so very proud of you!!

February has, thus far, been an amazing month!!! We have something else pretty unbelievable to share, but you'll have to wait until the time is right!!!! It's good. I promise. :-)