SINK OR SWIM?

Here she is...ROLLING.

Ivey had her GI appointment yesterday. She is weighing in at almost 14 pounds. That's two pounds since her last visit. Now that my little doll baby is more active we have to do something about her being on her feeding pump so often during the day. So the schedule is being revised. Once upon a time I posted Ivey's military style daily routine, which did not include her brothers, her parents, or any kind of 'fun' activity, I will direct you back to it if you are interested (A Day In The Life). Here we are tweaking and manipulating schedules yet again.

The plan is to drop from 4 bolus feeds down to 3 bolus feeds per day. The kicker is to drop feedings from 2 hours per feed down to 1 hour per feed, while maintaining a certain volume of formula. By doing this, Ivey will have more time to be a real 1year old. Ivey will still be imprisoned to that blinking monotone machine, but for only three hours total during the day, not the 6 hours she was doing yesterday. YiPpE! HuRrAy!

Ivey will still have a continual night feeds. Each night she is plugged into her feeding pump for 10 straight hours. As you can imagine, being connected to a machine via a tube is pretty restrictive, that is why we are trying to put the most volume of formula into her at night.

Ivey's GI doctor and I were talking yesterday at her appointment. He was astonished to see how much she progressed in the time since she was last seen. Actually, she astonishes everyone in the medical field that had contact with her one year ago. He asked me if I remembered that she could barely tolerate 5cc of formula in her stomach when she was born. How could I forget that? Ivey could not retain formula or breast milk. She could not grow. Thus how could she live? She was in a category that is called failure to thrive. Did I ever tell you that? She was listed in that category due to her size and weight (obviously she was deficient in both areas). Now she is undoubtedly thriving and growing!! I told her doc that she is now doing things here in her first year that most figured Ivey would n.e.v.e.r do in her life time. Period. (Smiling, rolling, interacting, playing - most everyday activities taken for granted) He looked at me, laughed and said, "She is light years from where any of us thought she would be - ever." Amen to that!

My next challenge....How in the world am I going to take a 4 year old, a 2 year old and a one year old to the pool.....alone?

The story of our lives - sink or swim!