Feeding Frenzies

 



 

Molli was a little reticent during her early meals today, but in my presence she managed to practically inhale an entire meal off of Trine in about 15 minutes.  It was extraordinary.  Last night it took her about 35 minutes to fill up.  You wonder how we know she got a full tummy in those 15 minutes?  We didn’t, at first.  We thought maybe she’d consumed half a meal or so before conking out (see above).  One of the nurses came over, hooked a syringe up to her feeding tube, and withdrew the food from her stomach.

 

The syringe filled up immediately.  That was 20-25 cc’s right there, and the nurse said she could “feel” that there was much, much more inside Molli.  Then she hung up the syringe and let Molli reconsume the food she’d just worked so hard to eat.  It was kind of surreal.  Imagine a Thanksgiving dinner where someone jammed a tube down your nose into your stomach, withdrew everything in your stomach, then dripped it back in.  How grateful would you feel?

 

Also, she weighed in at 2265 grams today.  That’s 4.98 pounds.  And that was more than 12 hours ago.  So it’s safe to assume she’s beyond 5 pounds by now.  Amazing.

 

To celebrate the conclusion of this very difficult week we decided to go out to dinner, just the two of us.  We went out for ribs at Tivoli, to the rib joint under the very restaurant where, just 8 months ago, Trine first informed me that we had a bean in the oven.  It was the first time we’d been out to a restaurant together in months.  It was magnificent.  We ate in an hour, came home, Trine went into the bedroom to pump, and I knocked off the Steelers in the divisional playoffs, 63-7.  What a night!