Going home...

Sorry folks, we have been pretty bad at updating the blog over the last few days. There has been a whole lot going on, and without the endless hours of boredom at the hospital we have been having a hard time finding time to blog. So here is the most recent update. Bindi is home, we came home on sunday afternoon and we couldn't be happier. The primary issue has been her feeding. Her digestive problems have not been an issue what-so-ever, we thought because of the omphalocele that she would have problems with her bowels. But the surgery went so well the only real problem was one we didn't know would be factor, her cleft palate. She has a cleft in her soft palate, so it's not visible, but it makes it impossible for her to create suction. Long story short, she is not able to feed very naturally. It was a lot of work to try and figure out what we would do to get her to feed. The ENT lady had us try various specialty bottles, but nothing seemed to work. Finally, she suggested we go to babs-r-them and buy a "nuby" bottle. The entire bottle is silicon, so it allows you to basically squeeze the milk into her mouth, then all she has to do is swallow. A day after buying the bottle Bindi drank all of the milk with out the need for the feeding tube. This was such an improvement the ENT lady took the feeding tube out. The next several days were full of frantic attempts to learn how best to feed her. Once she started gaining weight and feeding well, it was only a matter of time before we could come home. Now, it's been exactly a week since coming home from the hospital. Rachel and I are both pretty wiped out, every night i get up to feed the baby and Rachel gets up to pump. Still I prefer this much more than being at the hospital still. Being home with Bindi has given us the chance to actually feel like parents, and we like it, so that's probably good. Bindi's scab from her surgery is healing nicely and should hopefully be gone around the same time an umbilical cord usually falls off. Other than that, all's well. We are so blessed to have our little one safe and sound, and we thank all of you for your prayers and support!