"End in Sight" 8:48pm

"End in Sight", said one of the neonatalogists about Gracie!! Yea.. that's what I like to hear.. definitely nice to befriend your child's social worker.. (I'm just sayin!!).. Actually, our social worker is very nice.. at times she'll just come in & hear me bitch.. soo who needs a therapist.  She's been great!!  Thanks, K!!

So, I guess we need to start getting our ducks in a row (not that I haven't tried, trust me).. I have found two G.I. Specialists in our area, both take our health insurance..so that's one thing out of the way.  K will work on setting up a meeting with the neonatalogists & the discharge coordinator, and our pediatrician & us.. to make the transition to home smoother for Gracie.  We already know who our pedi uses for early intervention (EI)..so we'll put a call into them as well..  Most likely, we'll see our pedi in the first week that we are home & the GI Specialist.. and of course, EI will be called too.. I'm guessing we'll be home by first week of December.. but I'll keep you all posted for sure!

Gracie is doing soo well!! She will most likely be up to 12cc's/hour of feedings tonight & tomorrow morning the NJ tube will come out. It's going to be a GREAT day.. I'm kinda eager to get there early..  I'll be happy if they take it out before I get there.. I'd like to see her full face for my morning picture!!  Wow.. this is such a big step for Gracie!

This is from today.. with all that tape! It'll come off & leave no marks, Dad!!  Now, you'll be able to see her full cheeks.. I can't wait!!  This is a long time coming.. She's doing Amazing!! Truly her name sake!!

So, as it will go..she will get full feedings continously thru the g-tube that's in her belly.. then they should soon start to give her 'bolis' feedings..which means every 3 hours (the full continous feed will be 1x every 3 hours) during the day; and then continous feeds at night. The tube will stay in her belly & we'll go home with a little machine to do her feedings.. then with the help of a speech therapist & an occupational therapist..we'll work on her bottle feedings (which she's really good with her pacifier, so I can't see something being wrong).  But it's not so much the sucking part..as it is the swallowing & remembering to keep breathing.. these things we take for granted.  But I know Gracie will soar.. and we are OK with having her home at first with the G-tube.. we've been here long enough, don't you think??



I need to go watch some tv & unwind from billing :( .. all done, thankfully!! And hopefully we'll hit the 5lb mark tomorrow..if not tomorrow then Thursday at the latest.


God bless everyone!

love you all,
pattie & gary & gracie & maxwell

p.s. Chicken nuggets & tator tots, cole slaw & salad for dinner. it was OK! :)