It's been a while since I have been able to update everyone because honestly I feel like I haven't had a moment to sit down and think. While in the hospital, Trey and I made the decision to give Brody a G- Tube. This would replace his current NG feeding that was going through the nose and instead, surgicallly place one in his tummy. This is meant to be more long term and in the long run is safer and much easier to deal with. It was very obvious we weren't going to get anywhere with the bottle any time soon, so at this point it made the most sense. Before we left the hospital the first time, the idea of a G-tube was debaetd amongst the doctors, but Brody's heart surgeon did not want him going through another surgery the way his heart was. Now that his heart was much better, everyone was on board. It always sucks to have to go through another surgery, but compared to heart surgery, this was a breeze. The day of surgery we sat around and waited most of the day. They had a round-about time they were going to do the procedure, but had to wait for the OR to free up. Our heart surgeon insisted that this surgery take place in the Cardiac OR with a Cardiac anestesioligist just to be safe and nobody argued with that. Once again, I handed Brody over to be taken to the OR at about 3:45, by 5:15 we were talking with the surgeon. Everything went well. They wanted him to spend one night in ICU and the next day we were sent back down to the floor.
We spent this next week slowly introducing his feeds again through his new G-Tube. His throwing up his feeds had stopped which was very exciting. On Saturday, we were released from the hospital and back home once again.
Our week at home started off great. We were getting adjusted well and towards the middle of the week Brody started having very runny diapers and then started throwing up his feeds. By Saturday morning, he had thrown up his feeds every feeding since late Thursday night. We decided to take him in to the dr to be checked out, but we both knew what was likely going to happen. After leaving the pediatrician's office we headed downtown to Texas Childrens Emergency Room. I will say the one bonus to our situation is we never have to wait at the ER. We are always taken right away which is awesome because the waiting room down there can get crazy. After hanging in the ER for a while, we were admited, to try and figure out what was going on and to see if they could get him to tolerate his feeds again. Saturday afternoon they stopped his feeds and put him on IV fluids in order to give his bowles a rest. Sunday morning, we started introducing feeds again starting with some pedialite. He did well. No more issues throwing up and we were released from the hospital Monday afternoon.
We are back home again and working on getting adjusted. He still is intermittenly throwing up his feeds, but it is not every feed. I changed the brand of forumla, but I don't think that did much good. I have no idea what is causing him to get sick. He is on a couple of antibiotics which could be the problem, but I am clueless on how to go about solving the mystery. He just has so many different things going on it's hard to pin down one thing. It's a bit frustrating, but I have gotten used to the smell of puke. He has a bunch of appointments coming up, so hopefully I can talk with some people and try and figure it out. We are starting to introduce and work on solids with Brody. He is all over the place with how he is doing with that. In the morning he does pretty well, but in the afternoon and evening it's hit or miss. He still wants nothing to do with the bottle and screams everytime you put it in his mouth, so we are focusing our attention on his solids. I am in the process of trying to set up his OT and PT services which should help us move along.
I have been an emotional basketcase lately. Brody isn't sleeping great lately so I am exhausted. No surprise. I don't think you really plan on having a baby and getting great sleep, but it has been rough. I am really hoping we can get to a point soon where he will sleep through the night. On top of being exhausted, I have been really frustrated. The feeding stuff is incredibly stressfull and frustrating. I never know if what I am doing is good and I'm just tired of having to deal with it. When I dreamed of having a baby, none of this was in the plan. I get that not everything always goes as planned, but it's hard to grasp sometime. I feel like I accepted the heart issues and what that would mean for us, but I was not expecting the feeding issues. I was warned during pregnancy that it would be something they would have to work on with him, but because of his difficulty with recovery from the first surgery, everything took a completely different turn. I feel like my enitre life revolves around this pump. He gets fed every three hours sitll and because he has issues with throwing up, they run over an hour. That's a long time to be hooked up to a machine and to try and stay still. A lot of the time he will lay down and nap while his feeds are going which helps, but it sucks to be trying to navigate carrying your baby around while pushing an IV pole or carrying a feeding pump backpack. It is even more difficult to try and get outside the house. As soon as I start to feel bad about our situation, I start feeling incredibly guilty. I shouldn't be so upset because he has a good heart and is doing well. I know there are parents out there going through way worse and would do anything to just have to deal with feeding issues at this point. I try and remind myself of this when I start to get down and to focus on embracing the good that we have.
Things overall are headed in the right direction. I am in the process of looking at returning to work next school year which is kinda exciting. As much normalcy that we can have the better. I am hoping by that time, our doctor appointments will have calmed down and he will be better adjusted to being home (eating better, sleeping better, moving along developmentally). At the end of the day, all that matters is that I have a happy, healthy baby boy. 
Kisses before G Tube surgery
Our newest sock monkey friend
New G Tube. In a couple of weeks, all of this will be replaced with a little button port that we attach a tube to during feeding.
A little bored hanging in the hospital, but check out the view of both cheeks with no tubes!
Brody and Daddy's selfie
My nephew Tyler participated in Jump Rope for Heart in honor of his cousin Brody. So proud of this boy and how much he loves his cousin.
Tyler showing off his mad jump rope skills
Play Time
Waiting for some grub in his new high chair
Fairfield opening day for baseball! We are "those" parents that put inappropriate shirts on their kid and think it's hilarious.
8 months! Finally in the 5th percentile for weight (though we are still behind on our height)
