March 6

We had some trouble with Karen's feeding tube early in the morning (12-3 AM).  It was clogged and nothing we did seemed to work.  Turns out letting it sit for a few hours seemed to do the trick.  Karen and her mom got it cleared this morning and things are looking better.  Karen's mom did a lot of work organizing and shopping for little things for the apartment since we're still getting settled.

Karen's physical therapy appointment went well and she was 'really worked over'.  After dinner (made by Georgia), with mine and Karen's parents, we went over to visit Becca.  Karen got to see how portable her feeding tube pump and bags are.  It worked well though we did have to stop to let Karen rest twice in the parking garage.  Once we were in the hospital it was a relatively smooth wheelchair ride to the NICU.

One of the nurses went to Hobby Lobby and grabbed a little box with slots for pictures and other things on the top and a bunch of space inside.  She swore it was half price and didn't cost much.  They got some hand and foot prints along with a group picture of me, Karen and Becca to go on the box top.

I'm a little jealous of the nurses, they get to spend so much time with Becca but she is in good hands and doing well.

Braden

Today was a rough day. My feeding tube was plugged last night and Braden spent 3 hours trying to fix it. Finally we called the on-call hospice nurse and she told us to just go to bed and try it again in the morning. Probably the best advise we could have received. My Mom tried flushing the tube this morning and while at first it was a little resistant we did get the plug flushed out. Otherwise I would have had to go in and have it replaced. Not my idea of a good time.

The physical therapist came today and gave me a good working over. He gave me a lot more and harder exercises than the PT in the hospital. They just about wore me out completely.

Tonight Braden's parents came to visit. So all of us went to see Becca; Braden and I, and both sets of grandparents. While they would only allow 4 people in the NICU at one time we enjoyed our visit. One of the nurses is the unofficial photographer for the NICU and we were able to get some photos with Becca. They gave us a copy of one, but Braden is going to have to scan it before we can post it.

When we got to the hospital Braden parked where he could and we got to walk in. I had to stop twice to rest, but I made it with help from my Mom and Braden. After PT today and the walk, I was totally worn out. I am not looking forward to exercising tomorrow.

Karen