A bit sick; Tangled tubes; Hoping for feeding therapy

Loki appears to be a bit sick. He has had a very mild fever on and off, and his energy level is a bit low. His breathing is sometimes quite strained and raspy. Mom took him to the doctor, and we need to watch him closely. If he still has a low fever Sunday evening, then he goes to the doctor Monday morning.

There is a potential ironic upside to being sick: He needs to gradually strengthen his immune system by being exposed to various germs. This will sometimes include getting sick. Thus, a mild illness may be a good thing, overall.

Loki continues to grow and develop rapidly. Today he is 14 lbs 6 oz (6.52 kg), and is adding about 9 ounces each week. Today he was able to bear more weight while trying to lift his stomach up and be on all four limbs. He also rolled over a bunch in bed. He can sit up and rest his the weight of his upper body forward onto his straight arms. Best of all, he is falling asleep on his own--usually within 15 minutes, with some crying.

This is all good, but we ran into a problem. He was crying in bed, and we let him go for a few minutes, perhaps allowing him to fall back asleep. When he didn't stop crying, I went in to check on him. His feeding tube (which was connected to the pump) was wrapped around his neck. He was struggling a bit to breathe.

Obviously, we need to do something about this. We put his tube under his shirt, taped at its bottom, through a small hole that I cut in the middle of his bed sheet, under and out the sheet, then to the pump. This seems to be the position with the least likelihood of getting wrapped up. We will also buy a video monitor tomorrow.

Loki's MAG3 scan of his kidney was Tuesday. It was very unpleasant for Loki. He got an IV and was strapped down for 90 minutes, crying loudly the whole time. We haven't heard any results. But bad news travels fast, so we don't worry.

Loki goes to the gastroenterologist on Thursday. Perhaps we can learn more then.

Our medical insurance may cover his feeding therapy. If it is considered a medically-caused (and not behaviorally-cased) food aversion, then it should be included. Keep your fingers crossed.

We are able to have a bit of fun. Mom has taken Loki swimming for several afternoons. Today we had some friends over. Although Loki did not swim, he had fun with our guests, particularly little 4 year old Anna. He sat on her lap and sort of "played" with her. Very cute.

We are planning a week vacation in September to Santa Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles. Obviously, we are very much looking forward to this. But also, I, for one, am a bit nervous. We have never even driven more than an hour with Loki, much less fed on the road and stayed in hotels. This is seven hours of driving, then a ferry. And we'll need to transition to a nearly-totally formula diet. We can't take frozen breast milk. Our hotel on the island, though, is quite friendly and accommodating.