Thursday, October 1, 2009

No tubes...for a bit

We've been working with Gracie even more on oral eating and really it isn't going anywhere. Today I needed to change her NG, so I figured we would try feeding her without her NG tube to see if that would help. No change!


Gracie loves to put things in her mouth, but when it comes to food, she very rarely will allow food to pass the middle of her tongue before she lets the food pool out of her mouth. So in addition to different textures, we are trying different tastes too. Yesterday Grace loved sucking on a piece of roast beef, and last week she couldn't get enough of the olive oil and balsamic vinegar (like at Macaroni Grill) on a piece of bread. One day it will come...even if it is when she if 16 :)

(Gracie's way to wear her oxygen. Do you think it still does her any good? She is constantly doing this. )

In addition to the NG tube experiment, I took Gracie's oxygen off, just to watch her sats...it took about 45 minutes before she dropped below 70. But boy did we enjoy those 45 minutes of tube free freedom. I don't know who was happier---Gracie or Morgan. Grace rolled all over the house, she rolled into corners and places that she never has been able to get to. All the time, Morgan danced and sang, "Yeahhhhhhhhh, Gracie has no tubes! Yeahhhhhhhh, Gracie has no tubes! No more tubes for Gracie."






It was so hard to put the oxygen and NG tube back, Gracie just looked at me and started to pout. Oh how I dream of the day that Gracie could live off of oxygen, even if it is only for a couple of hours a day.
































For those of you wondering, Morgan did great with her surgery. She didn't complain much of pain, but was very whiny and not herself for several days. It was so sad, all she remembered was that "they put the mask on her and then her teeth ripped."

5 comments:

The Simmons Family said...

Isn't it great to see their sweet cheeks tube free.. even if it's temporary? Owen drops into the 60s almost immediately without oxygen, so I think it's great that she stayed good for 45 min!! It always stinks to put it back on though :(. I feel ya.

I'm glad Morgan's surgery went smooth!

Michelle said...

This is the third time I've looked at these pictures, and the third time I've cried! She is getting so BIG!

I can't wait to see those two!

One Happy Heart Family said...

It so nice to see tubeless babies, but we all know they are there for a reason. On the feeding thing Kylie didn't want a thing to do with solids, so our OT said to not wipe her face off, you know the spoon swipe we always do? Yes it is so hard to watch your sweet one be so messy, but it helps, she said it causes a negative experiance, also with Kylie she had a hard time so I put the food on the side of her mouth, she then was like oh I can figure this out. Dunno if this helps I just know the stress of feeding issues and thought I would pass it on. She is so beautiful and growing up so fast!

Allison said...

I love the tube free photos! As for Morgan, what a brave little girl! I can't imagine that much dental work!

Ginger said...

She looks so different without her tubes! She looks much bigger. Congrats on the milestones. Poor Morgan I can't even imagine going through that much dental work at such an early age, poor girl!