Thursday, March 27, 2008
Get in my belly!
Charlie has gone from mellow yellow to sawing logs. Hee Hee. I can't believe how loud this little man snores. We are going to hold off for a bit on the bath so that he can utilize such a good nap! I love this nurse up here! I have been bombarding her with questions and she has answered every single one thoroughly. She also taught me how to vent his tummy and to "check his residuals" which(call me gross, whatever) is kind of cool. Basically, you pull all his stomach contents out including the bile and partially digested formula and measure how much is there. Half an hour ago he had 30 cc's which the nurse said is okay but not stupendous. Ideally she said anything around 15 is great, but they prefer to keep the number below 30 or so. She then taught me how to give him his meds and flush the tubing. I was surprised when she handed the meds over and closely watched as I pushed them to practice. Luckily, it is very similar to how you push meds through a normal IV which I have some experience with. The only difference is that you don't have to worry about keeping a sterile environment with his feeding tube because the stomach and colon are not one bit sterile or are they even intended to be! She then walked me through the basics on the pump and is going to find me some handouts so I can study up for when he goes home. I have already learned so much! Whew. I swear this nurse has as much energy as I do. Is that possible? -Shani
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4 comments:
Shani, they are lucky to have you! The more the merrier, I think, in regards to those who are in the know about Charlie's workings and such. Stupid questions: What is venting? Is that letting the excess air out? And, they add a certain cc's of formula (or 1/2 and 1/2) and then check it a few hours(?) later to see what has digested? Is there always a round-a-bout average of "other" liquid, like bile, that they can figure is acceptable when figuring out if his stomach is emptying properly? Does that make sense?
yep, it does. "Venting" is when they put a 60 cc syringe(just the tube part of the syringe, not the suction part) on the end of his feeding tube. You know that the majority of the air is out of his tummy when you start to get coming back through the tube. The nurse gently pushed on his belly which made the air come out even more. When they do the residuals, the fluid they are counting does include stomach bile. Basically, they don't want to feed him more than his tummy and intestines can handle. If there is less content when they check the residual that means his body is working a little faster to digest the food and they can up the amount of formula they give him until they reach the ideal levels. This all probably sounds confusing, so the next time they do this, I will take a picture and post it. Sorry for the wordy explanation. -Shani
I want to be trained. I can't think of anything I would love more than to take of little Charlie. Just looking at his sweet face and addictive chubby cheeks.. Me, next... OK!I don't have medical experience, but I have lots of Mommy and G=ma experience... Me, ok? I love you Rob, Angel, Cheryl and Kathi... I would love to help... I know you have a humongous immediate family, but I am not that far removed.
Love you forever, Jill B
I'm so glad he's having such a good nap with snores even!!
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