I know its been quite a while, but things have been super busy around here! Jon and I got engaged this past October, and now recently found out we are expecting baby number 2! I am in the beginning of my 16th week and soo excited!! 2014 is going to be an amazing year for us!
I decided I would devote to this post to some Feeding Tube Awareness! Austin is what we call a "super tubie" which is just an overly adorable term made by the feeding tube community to call a child who is tube fed. Austin depends on a G-tube for all his nutrition. He doesn't eat by mouth, maybe a few tastes of different flavors and textures here and there, but no where near enough to be considered a meal.
He received the first 3 months of my breast milk, while in the NICU, but has been G-tube dependent since september 25, 2009. There are several different tubes, and pumps that can be used.
Austin has what is known as a Mic-Key button. It has a little balloon that I fill with water, to keep inside his tummy. I attach a tube to it, and syringe feed him 1 can of pedicure 4 times a day! He used to use a Kangaroo joey pump and was on whats known as a "continuous feed" for an hour at a time. Once he started moving a lot more, i decided to wean him from that. He can handle the syringe feeds just fine now :) with no stomach aches! he used to have really bad acid reflux as well, which seems to have healed itself.
We buy these little tubie accessories made of cotton, to help soak up some of the moisture that collects around the tube, that causes granulation tissue to grow around the tube. I found several different companies with some cute ones! One is knows as Button Buddies, and our new fav is Tubie Whoobies! There is also a huge community of Tubies we found on Facebook, its a great way to connect with other tubie parents.
(One of our favorite Tubie Whoobies)
Until next time -
Xo Brandi
