I can't believe it's already been another month!! Time is passing so quickly. Hopefully I can remember all the news to catch up on.
The boys are doing great. I've started to wean Tyler from his pacifier. He only has it for sleeping now, for the most part. He still doesn't let it go easily in the morning, but he does ok. When I say to him, "You ready for a nap?" He'll reply, "Bink?" and run to the shelf where I put it. Once he has it, he runs down the hall to his room and lays on his bed. He's really good about naps and bedtime. He'll even ask for us to put him to bed sometimes. During the day he stays very busy. His favorite things are still appliances, especially the vacuum.
Drew has had a few dilation's this month, as usual. We've been trying to get him in to see a speech therapist, but the wait is long for an appointment. When the time finally came he was sick again, and we had to cancel. We've all the the virus that's been moving around. Hooray for flu season! Drew had quite a time with all the mucous, and had a really rough week at first. He slept and cried for several days. It's been two weeks since then, and he's back to his happy playful self. He still has some rattling with breathing, but he doesn't mind it.
Drew is still working on sitting, and is actually pretty close to being able to be left alone to sit. He also started rolling back to front last week!! So now he rolls both ways.
As far as food goes we're definitely making progress. Drew now really enjoys toys in his mouth. He loves to suck on any one's finger. He's also starting to enjoy taste. So with the encouragement of Early Intervention, I dipped a wash cloth in formula and let him try it. He enjoys sucking on a wash cloth in the bath, so that's where the inspiration came from. He really liked it.
So since he's had such a strong desire for oral stimulation and liked the formula, I decided to make the step to try a bottle. Monday night was our first attempt. For the most part he just chewed on the nipple, but he did manage to get 4 cc's in. And rather than choking or spitting, which I thought might happen, he swallowed and kept on going!! It was very exciting. (There are 5 cc's in a teaspoon.)
Tuesday night I tried again. This time he did much more sucking, although still mostly chewing. He drank 15 cc's, though!! That's half an ounce, or 3 teaspoons!! I've been stretching his stomach slowly, by giving him feedings into his stomach. His stomach now holds just more than an ounce (30 cc's). We started at 3 cc's, so that's awesome! My goal is that by Thanksgiving we'll be able to give him food in his stomach (by tube and/or by mouth) during the day, and only run the pump at night. If we could run the pump into his stomach that would be awesome too. For now the pump is running 20 hours a day into his intestine.
We also had the joy of the tube cracking last week. That's the first time we've had to change the tube since we've been home, home. (I broke it the day after we left the hospital, but we were in Sunset.) So Drew and I made an extra trip to Primary Children's to get the new tube put in. Hopefully this one will last us until we can switch to a plain G- tube button. For now it's a GJ tube.
My grandfather also passed away this last month. We stayed with my grandma this last weekend, and it seemed so strange for him to not be there. I'm so grateful for his life and example. He was an amazing man.
Thought I'd also share this picture of Drew with his triplet cousins. Imagine the family parties when they're three!! :)