Tuesday Evening

Rebekah didn't sleep very well last night. She threw up at midnight and then again at 5:15. Both times, she wanted her nutrition to be continued. After the second episode, she wouldn't go back to sleep for over an hour. She kept calling for Mommy. That made it pretty difficult for Mommy to get much sleep.

With the way Rebekah has been eating bites here and there and actually swallowing some of them without problems, we have some thoughts of trying to get her back to eating. We know it will be a slow process, but think it might be time to start working on that.

With that in mind, we wanted to start getting her stomach used to larger amounts (instead of the constant stream of nutrition from the pump). So, throughout the day, we gave her bolus feeds (larger amounts over a few minutes). We are starting out slow and allowing her to have the pump feeds over night to make up the difference. Each day, we will try for a little larger amounts until she can get enough nutrition in during the day and not need the pump at all.

Meanwhile, we are trying to sit at the table during mealtime and have food in front of her and encourage her to eat. At lunch time today, she wanted part of her sister's peanut butter and jelly sandwich and ate a few bites. At dinner, she wouldn't touch her plate. It is nice to have the table usable again, so that we can try to be social and work on eating.

Her diaper rash continues to be really REALLY bad. I am keeping it as coated as possible and being diligent in changing her diapers whenever they are dirty. She has been doing a very good job of telling Mommy when she needed a change. That has been very helpful. I worry that her diaper rash can cause an infection causing a fever, so it is really bothering me that she has such a nasty diaper rash.

Her temperature has continued to go up. It isn't yet to the point of being admitted for fever, but I am concerned about it. Please pray that the diaper rash heals quickly and that there are no fevers.

It has felt so good to have some semblance of order in the house. Having the Christmas Tree put up and furniture moved to where it is supposed to be and then getting the dining room back to usable is just HUGE to my emotional well being. The house is not totally put together, but each bit of improvement is good.

Tomorrow Grandma M will come and watch Sarah while I take Rebekah into clinic for counts. Doc said late last week that he thinks Rebekah might need Platelets, but doesn't expect her to need Red Blood with the transfusion last week. As always, we will have to wait and see. At least Platelets don't take as long to receive as Red Blood. Please pray that the appointment goes well.

Rebekah is not cooperating with going to sleep tonight. She is crying and asking for Mommy and Daddy. So far, we've been pretty patient, but I don't think that will last much longer. She has been given some medications to help with coughing, pain and stomach upset. Those should be kicking in shortly and hopefully the sedative side effect of them will start to do its thing.