Becoming A Big Eater

I just have to announce that it has been a whole week since Andrew has needed his feeding tube!!! WAHOOO! Everyone at the hospital told me he would do a lot better once he was home and he had someone consistent feeding him each time.  I didn't know if I dared believed them or not, but they were exactly right!
When Andrew was released from the hospital he came home with a nasogastric (NG) tube.  This bright orange tube coming out of his nose is what Stephen and I had to practice putting in before he could be released. At the hospital, he was eating about 40%-60% orally. In just 48 hours after coming home our little Andrew shot up and started eating about 75% orally. He'd have good days and bad days, but overall was doing so much better than at the hospital. I found this NG tube to be very convenient when it came time to give him his medicine. We'd just dose it up and put it in, whether he was awake or asleep it didn't matter.

Every few days his little fingers would get a hold of it and pull it right out. It wasn't a big deal...through a few tears and a bit of crying, we'd just put it right back in. Well, he'd been doing awesome with eating everything 100% orally and so last Monday, when he pulled it out again, I decided to see if he could go without needing it. The biggest thing I wasn't sure about was giving him his medicine orally.

So far...he's done awesome. He takes his medicine really well, I was a bit surprised at this as some smell pretty nasty. Also, it sometimes takes a little while to get an entire feeding down, but it is so worth not having that extra tube coming out of his nose.  When we went to the doctor last Friday, he said that he's been gaining good weight and that he's been doing just fine with out the NG tube. We're so excited....another step in the right direction!