I know it's been awhile since Ira's last blog update, and I know everyone who is following along is wanting to know how she's doing. The biggest thing that has been going on, is her feeds. She hit full feeds about a week ago and she has been working on consolidating her feeds into every three hours. She's currently getting a 2 hour break, then getting her full feeds over an hour. She is still throwing up a lot, and at first we thought, Oh No, but they said she's a Happy Spitter and they aren't worried about it! So, thankfully that won't hold us back! They were wanting to send us home on her taking gravity feeds, which is pretty much a bottle but through her GTube, and not ran by a pump. They were also wanting to send us home with her not throwing up a whole lot......but, we found out today, Monday October 24th, that Ira has some sensitivity issues to my breast milk, so for now she's on formula until her throwing up/gagging stage comes to a near end. Then thankfully, we can use the 10+ gallons of breast milk I have pumped for the last 4 in a half months! I just about died at the thought of pumping this long, and her not being able to have all of it!!! Ahhh!!!!
But do we have some news for you....
We found out Thursday, October 20th....
that we are HEADING HOME!!!!!
We will be coming home with a feeding pump and working on consolidating her feeds at home! We will have lots of follow up appointments, and will have some medical employees come to our house every week or so, to help Ira learn to suck from a bottle. But, we are heading HOME!!!! Best part is, we are heading home.............TOMORROW!!!!!!!! (Tuesday, October 25th!) Hopefully discharge will be between 11am and 1pm! We have to stop by Dayton Children's to pick up our supplies, but we will soon be showing Ira her home! FINALLY!!! It's been a long time coming, but our NICU journey, dare I say, is over!!!!We would LOVE for all of you to visit Ira; however, we are asking for just a few short days to get home and get use to our "new" normal!! I will definitely let everyone know when we are accepting visitors. All we ask is that if you or someone in your family has had anything, even a runny nose in the last month, that you wait just a little longer to meet Ira. We also ask that if you or anyone in your household is unvaccinated , that you as well, wait just a little while longer to meet Ira Jo. Not that we want to start problems, but Ira's body is working so hard to recovery, develop, and heal, that she could not take getting sick. Specially, with a big illness that a vaccine could prevent. We were told there has been a big outbreak of whooping cough and there are many children being hospitalized here at Cincinnati. So we are being EXTRA careful! Whooping cough could do lots of damage to any baby or child, even adults, but specially to Ira. Ira was obviously born prematurely and her lungs weren't 100% developed. Because her lungs weren't 100% developed, she has a small case of chronic lungs disease. She will eventually grow out of it, but we are going to do everything in our power to keep Ira Jo out of the hospital!!! We are DONE with hospitals!! So please don't get offended by our choices. They are not personal by any means...we are just making what we think is the best medical choice for our child. We hope and pray that ALL who have been following along, loved on us and prayed for us, get to meet our big NICU miracle soon! Thank you for understanding, and your cooperation. Also, and most importantly, THANK YOU for your prayers, your sweet uplifting messages and for all those who have helped by giving financially, meals, or anything!! We definitely couldn't have done any of this without your prayers, love and support!
We will be posting LOTS of pictures on Facebook and Instagram, so make sure you stay tuned!!!
:):):):):):):)
EEEKKKK!!! We are so excited!!
The Sinks! 💕
