Look, Mum... no tubes!

posted on November 5th, 2007 by Chris Betlejemski

Hello, and welcome back!

It's been an incredible few months since I last wrote. Lots of awesome things have happened, which is nice considering the messed-up year we've had. So, why not make a little tea, curl up in your chair, and delve into this month's update...

Oxygen? What oxygen?

September 10th, 2007 was a big day at our house. This crusty, old writer officially turned 30. My colleagues have remarked on how "prune-like" I've become, and I've caught myself saying "bah" quite often. As a memento of the occasion, the lads and myself went to see RUSH. Geddy hit all the high notes. I wept like a girl. It was awesome.

Even more awesome was the birthday gift I received from Julia. Early that morning, she pulled off her oxygen tubes for the last time. Ever. We had the green-light to wean her oxygen down to nil, and letting her pull it off was more incredible than anyone can imagine. She'd been having to deal with rubber prongs up her nose since she was born. Suddenly, they were gone.

What a feeling!

Feeding

Now that the oxygen was off, the next order of business was the feeding tube. To be honest, I was prepared to deal with the NG-tube for the long haul. We've heard stories of kids with the tube for years. After a time, it has to be switched to a G-tube (gastric, goes directly through the skin into your belly), which would be, in a word, suck-y!

Monika, on the other hand, had big plans. She basically spends every waking moment tracking Julia's feeding progress, designing schedules, concocting recipes, consulting dietitians and doctors, and basically working on getting a whole lot of food into the baby's belly. Not surprisingly, Monika's persistence and ingenuity has totally paid-off! She managed to get Julia gaining weight steadily, and drinking from bottles, sippy-cups, straws, and even normal cups. She's even eating various mushes with a spoon. This is HUGE.

Recently, our occupational therapist suggested we try pulling Julia's NG-tube for a few days, just to see what happens. We had to clear it with our family doctor, who was a little hesitant, but agreed. It was expected that Julia might lose up to 2 pounds before showing any sign of stabilization. This was all very nerve-racking, as she's pretty tiny already, but Monika was sure it would work.

Sure enough, as soon as we pulled-out the tube, Julia completely blossomed! Feeling far more comfortable, she was able to take much, much more by bottle, and hold it down without vomiting (which, if you didn't know, was quite the issue). We went for a weigh-in after 4 days, and she gained a few ounces! Amazing!!!

It's been 2 weeks now, and we can see her volumes going up steadily. She seems to be much cheerier, more active, and generally happy. We're happy too! The nice thing about feeding her with a bottle is that our night schedule is sooooo much better. Soooooooooooooooooo much better. We can actually sleep a little bit now. It's amazing. I feel almost kinda normal.

Ciocia Melinda

Julia had a big job early in October. She was one of the flower girls in (Ciocia) Melinda's wedding, along with little Olivia. Theresa made her a cute little dress, and daddy got to walk her down the isle. She did really good, considering it was the hottest October day I've ever encountered... 35 celsius, and humid! She little ones managed to keep it together for most of the ceremony, but eventually got a little cranky, so we had to get them into the crying room.

The wedding itself was awesome! Congrats Melinda & Paul!!

Mommy's Birthday

On October 27th, I finally got to aim the geriatric jokes at Monika, as she turned 30, too. However, instead of being crabby and prune-like, she is even more beautiful (can I say sexy? it's a family blog) than she was in her 20's. We've been together for 10 years, and she always surprises me. I won't embarrass her here, but I am a lucky guy.

So, for her birthday, Monika wanted to have a "pajama day" with us! We haven't done that in... ever? On the Sunday, we took Julia out to Elgin County to find some suitable pumpkins for halloween. We managed to turn it into a road-trip. Mommy and daddy got to cruise around the countryside, while Julia caught a long nap in the back seat. See? Almost normal!!

Halloween

Lastly, I need to tell you about Halloween. I love Halloween!! I think it's just great. One of my favorite days of the year. This year, needless to say, was probably the most memorable Halloween of my life. We dressed Julia up as a Colin Baker-era Doctor Who... complete with the oversize scarf, robot companion, cool remixed theme music, and Tardis! The Tardis was fashioned from our big recycling box, with the Police Box signage affixed to the sides. The robot is actually a toy I got for Christmas when I was like five. At the time it was pretty hi-tech. Now it's retro-fi. Weird. Anyway, only a handful of people got the whole Doctor Who bit. Doesn't matter... I think it was pretty classy.

Lastly

That pretty much wraps it for this edition. Thanks for coming back to check up on our little family.

If anyone is interested, the Cropdusters are playing this Friday at the Central Hotel in Aylmer. We recorded another song last year, and I just got around to mixing it a little while ago. Feel free to download and distribute (it's just a demo version).

Thanks again!

Dad

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This is the little web log of the Betlejemski Family: Christopher, Monika, and (our little champ) Julia.