We are driving there for our little peanuts, pictured here looking perfect in knitted goodness.
You may have noticed in these and all other pictures of my boys, they have tubes in their noses. Those tubes feed my babies 95% of their daily needs. Those tubes have been a form of emotional torture for this mommy for the past four months.
My boys obviously needed them, for a number of reasons we know, and likely some we don't, these goofy little munchkins would rather starve themselves than swallow from their bottles.
I shared quite a bit of the story of us getting the tubes put in in this video here.
So the tube feeding has been a blessing, allowing my boys to thrive and develop, and getting them off the horrible white space below the curve on growth curve charts, and fully back into the 5th percentile.
But the tube feeding has been hard, for them and for us, Sparing you the details, but nasalgastric tubes often solve the growing problem while worsening the oral aversion problem. And my little boys need to learn how to eat, and so these tubes need to be out of the picture.
However that means accepting the alternative. And so tomorrow, with mixed feelings, we're taking our boys for surgery to have G-tubes put in. Its the right call, and it is necessary, but it hurts, because they don't understand.
And because the Universe is not fair.
And because unfortunately this is our story, and we aren't even close to the end yet.
So today I need to snuggle my babies. Tidy my house, and pack some hospital knitting for the next few days.
And if you want to celebrate how amazing my little monkeys are, you can watch this video of clips from over their first 6 months.
We had a little girl in our school that had the gastro tube feedings. We had a 3 year old program in my elementary school, many of the children in her class were preemies. Just wanted to share that she eventually developed her oral sensory skills and was able to eat. Hugs and best wishes for the twins.
ReplyDeleteBecause my oldest was born with a genetic metabolic disorder (the type of which are rare in themselves), we belong to a support group for said disorders...and so many of the kids have g-tubes (and so many don't). So, really, you know why they need this done and it's not fun. Do what you need to do. Take the time you need to take.
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