Ruby Hope McKee Starling

Well... This week hasn't really gotten much better.  Ruby has been spitting up a lot more.  We pretty much had the reflux under control for weeks.  We haven't had spit up in a long time.  Starting yesterday she was spitting up large amounts during her feeds.  She is also pretty much refusing the bottle, again.  She was getting so close to coming off the tube and then this week we've take 4-5 steps back.   She seems a little bloated, too.

I took her in to Doc this morning.  We got to meet the other doctor in the practice for the first time.  I was kinda nervous since Dr. Dan knows Ruby so well, but Dr. J was up to date on Ruby.   She walked in and said "I've been wanting to meet this little miracle for long time!".  Dr.J thinks that maybe she's just a little bloated and gasy.  We've eliminated some things from her diet and are going to give her some prunes.  If this doesn't help we'll go for a chest x-ray on Monday to check for reherniation.  Dr. J also said she could be fighting off something and only time will tell.

I'm not thrilled about the prospect of a chest x-ray.  They are pretty traumatic when the baby isn't sedated.  Hopefully Ruby will get back to normal over the weekend and can avoid it.

For those CDH parents out there who've dealt with re herniation.  How did you know?  Where there acute symptoms?  Ruby's lungs are clear and there are no bowel sounds in the chest.

As usual I brought Ruby in and told the Nurse that she was cranky and Ruby was nothing but smiles.  She kept trying to grab Dr. J's stethoscope and play with it.  Silly silly girl.

THis was Ruby right before her bath last night.

This Ruby "helping" cook dinner.

Doesn't this look like a comfy warm napping spot? 

We've had three wet diapers so far today.  That's good news!

Life with CDH is never dull.  Ruby is keeping us on our toes.  Ruby didn't pee at all yesterday and has been refusing bottles.  She did go overnight, a whole bunch actually.  We are not  weighing diapers so we don't know how much exactly.

I called and talked to the Nurse and she said RUby needs to pee every 8 hours.  So if she doesn't pee by 3 or 4 this afternoon we get to bring her in.

Lets all hope for wet diapers today!

Sorry it's been so long without a proper update.  We've busy with the Holiday's.  It's been hard to find the time to sit down and post.  Granny and Grandpa Starling were here for a couple days.  Then "Aunt" Amy came for a quick visit, too.  Amy hadn't seen Ruby since right before she was extubated. 

Ruby is totally rock'n the helmet.  It's actually a DOC Band. I've been having fun decorating it, too.  We are still very hopeful that she won't be wearing it for long.

Ruby loves to stand.  Her sound track this week has definitely included Bob Marley.  She will shoot her lags out and lock her knees when you go to set her down.  She will even fuss until you stand her up.  She has also started getting up on all fours and rocking.  Crawling is only days away at this point.  She's also learning to communicate with us.  If we take something away that she shouldn't be playing with she will let us know how unhappy she is about it.  She finally started saying Dada this weekend.  Up until now her only "words" were Ma and almost Ella.  It's funny how her second word is our cats name.  She does however call all cats and dogs Ella. Here's a video of Ruby telling us something very important.

We hope everyone has a good week!