POSTING of this blog that was left on draft mode (back in Mid May)
So back on May 3, Trent had his GI check-up after his two week observation from the first check-up. Results are mixed. Guess I'll start with the positive stuff.
In the past two weeks after his first GI check-up where he was just 11lbs 13 oz, we've been dilegently offering and feeding Trent his three solid feeds a day to supplement his lack of interest for milk. So he would start his day with maybe 2 to 3 oz of milk in the early morning then follow by rice cereal for brunch, baby food or oatmeal in the afternoon and baby dinner in the early evening. And if time permits we'll squeeze in a yogurt in the evening and some milk before bed time. This seems like a lot, but in total its about 600 calories. Overall, he's showing great interest in eating his baby food. Thats a plus, because we want him to pig out. The target was for him to consume at least 600 calories a day at a min, the more the better. This was calculated by figuring out what 23 oz of milk (he should be taking) equates to in terms of calories. Since he's only taking roughly no more the 12-15 oz of milk, the solid feeds is to make up the remaining calories. To give you a comparison, Troy easily downs 5 to 6 oz of milk each feed (and can still take in some baby food). And Troy would drink his milk roughly 6 to 7 times a day (every three hours). At 22 cal/oz thats roughly about 110 to 132 calories per bottle. So Troy takes in roughly 660 to 924 calories a day. Trent on the other hand takes in about 550 to 650 calories. So the issue is Trent's consumption in terms of "volume" is what's causing him to not gain weight. Its just not enough.
So the positive news was that Trent gain about 4 ounces in the two week observation and weight in at 12lbs 1oz on his last check-up; he should have gained closer to 6 ounces though during the period. Unfortunately, this gain is NOT sufficient enough, his GI doctor was not all that pleased. It is also becoming more evident that Trent is leaning towards need a feeding tube. Whether its a NG (nasal) or a G (in the stomach) tube. The concern is if he's not gaining weight, it would impede on his development. Fast forwarding another two weeks, he had a visit with his pediatrician and he hasn't gained weight. With this, his pediatrician has recommended that we go forward with a feeding tube for Trent.
So today, Trent was admitted to the hospital; he will be getting a NG tube and we'll be learning the ropes of this feeding method. While in the process, the docs took some basic vitals and checked out his electrolytes and learned that he has below normal sodium content. What this means is he's going to have to take some supplements to offset that. Likely he would need to do this for a while until he's able to eat more sodium rich foods (like french fries, chips =P).
So what originally was supposed to be a quick 3 day stay turned out to be a 6 day stay at the hospital. The first few days was primarily to track his sodium levels to see if it goes back up with the sodium supplements and it did and issue solved, and now we can finally begin the tube feeding process. Tube feeding did not begin until day 3 of the stay. During the past 3 days, it was a lot of blood draw and heel stick, poor guy had to get stabbed so many times. These next few days was also a challenge. The challenge wasn't the feeding, but keeping Trent from pulling his tube out. In 24 hours, I went from knowing nothing about tube feeding to having put back in his feeding tube through his nasal passage 3-4 times already. It probably is a good thing as I'll have to be the one putting the tube in when we're home and was good to get some training and medical oversight on proper techniques. Eventually, Trent settled in and got accustomed to the tube in his nose. What bothered him the most is the taping, we're using some duaderm (prevents skin irritation) and tagederm tape to hold it down.
Finally after three days of observation, the doctors are satisfied with Trent's tolerance with the tube and we were ready to go home. In just this week alone, he gained about 1/2 lbs (from 12lbs 1oz to closer to 12lbs 10 oz.) Thats some serious weight gain in such a short time, but it was also attributed to all the fluids he got to re-hydrate him and the sodium supplements where the body thinks it doesn't have enough sodium and thus holding on to the fluids. It will be expected that he'll lose some of that water weight once his kidneys realize he's got enough sodium and won't need to retain as much fluid.
So we came home that Saturday 5/25
