A G-tube For The New Year

     So we decided to go forward with the G-tube. This was not a decision that my husband and I went into lightly. I personally have gone back and forth so many times trying to decide what is the best thing for Breckin. When we talked with the doctor last week, he was not on board with it. He wanted to give it another couple weeks and wait for what's called an obturator. This is a mouthpiece that goes over the cleft in the palate to hopefully help her latch. The earliest this would even be started would be the second week of January, and it may not even be a solution to her feeding problems. So I decided over the weekend to put my foot down about not waiting for the obturator and to voice my feelings about the G-tube. Monday morning when the same doctor rounded, Josh and I brought up the G-tube again and our reasons for wanting to go forward with it. He pretty much immediately said yes I think we should go for it, and put in a consult with the surgery team. The fact that he was so much more on board with it only a few days later, made me feel even more that we were doing the right thing. 

     The next day, Breckin had an upper GI study to assess her anatomy and this was all normal. Later that afternoon, the surgical fellow came and talked with me about the surgery, and to make sure this was what we had decided to do. After confirming that yes this was something we have talked, thought, and prayed about, he told me that he believes we made a good decision. He said there is really no right or wrong way to go about feeding, but he said that babies tend to do better once they are home. This was just another affirmation that we were making the right decision for Breckin. There is usually another study that is done called a milk scan, which would assess if there is any reflux. Since Breckin has had no signs of reflux, they decided to forgo this study and go ahead with the surgery. It was scheduled for the next morning.

     So yesterday, on Wednesday December 31st, Breckin underwent her second surgery in just four weeks. Before the surgery, we met with the surgeon who would be doing the procedure. Her name is Dr. Williams and she told us that she is very good with G-tubes. This definitely put me more at ease. We watched our baby get wheeled back to the operating room again, and anxiously waited for the phone call to let us know they were done. Not even 45 minutes later, we got the call that the surgery went well and she was being taken back to her room on the NICU floor. 

     We came in to see her and the first thing I noticed was that she looked so long! It looked like she had grown in the short time that she was back there. The second thing I noticed though was that she had quite a bit of swelling on the right side of her head and face. Her ear was even shifted down due to all the swelling. The doctor told us that the scalp IV that they had started the night before had infiltrated and was leaking fluid into the soft tissue. They had already pulled the IV, but they said fluid would continue to leak out, and the swelling would take some time to go down. It looked awful, and I hated seeing her like that. It was almost worse than seeing her after her heart surgery. Luckily though with this surgery, she did not have all those lines and machines hooked up to her. All she has is an IV in her hand and the breathing tube in her mouth. 

     Today the plan is to wean her from the ventilator. She has definitely been more awake today and moving around when she's touched. They have started to go down on her vent settings, and have stopped giving her the morphine which is making her more sedated. They will just treat her pain with Tylenol and hope she will continue to wake up more. Her G-tube was clamped off this morning which means her gastric (stomach) juices will have a chance to just sit in her stomach. As long as this doesn't make her spit up or vomit, they will start feeding her this afternoon. The nurse practitioner said we can start feeding her with the bottle like before and give her the rest in her G-tube. We will start with small amounts and work our way up. The surgeon said that she would be up to full feeds in 48 hours if everything is tolerated. We are hoping that we will be able to go home next week!

     I hate that Breckin had to undergo another surgery, but I completely feel like it was the best thing we could do for her right now. I know that she will eventually get to where she can take a full bottle. She has the desire to eat, and she knows what to do. It's just a matter of her getting so tired that she can't finish her full amount by mouth. I think that once she grows and gets bigger and stronger, this will be an easier task for her. Our hope is that we won't even need to use the G-tube for long. I cannot wait to get our family of four back together under one roof. I am so excited to see what God has in store for our family in 2015! Happy New Year everyone! 

Love,

Brooke

Before her surgery yesterday just resting peacefully

 Day one after surgery-no more NG tube!