Tummy Tug-of-War

Good evening all!  We just got back from Calgary so I thought would quickly update you all.  First, I would like to start by making a correction to the blog that Tyler had written this morning; he wrote that the nurses were trying to advance Madison's feeding tube from her stomach to her esophagus, but what he meant was from her stomach to her intestines.  So last night they had advanced her feeding tube 2 extra centimeters from what it was, in hopes that it would make its way into her intestines bypassing her stomach altogether, and then they were going to shoot an x-ray to check the placement of the tubing.  However, as we learned today when we arrived at the the hospital, Madison had been started on her continuous milk feed of 1.38ml/hour at midnight, and they were stopped at noon today.  The feeds were stopped because Madison started throwing up large amounts of milk, pretty much she threw up all the milk that she had been given, so none of it made it through.  Also, the conclusion was that the feeding tube had not bypassed the stomach, and was still sitting in the stomach letting all the milk accumulate. So today the doctors decided that they are going to try advancing her feeding tube another two centimeters, and then shoot another x-ray in the morning. The idea is that the tube will eventually find the way out to the intestines, but the only way to be sure that it is in the right place is to x-ray the tubing.  However, because of the omphalocele, the x-ray is apparently really hard to read, but this is the only option for now.  The next step would be to send some sort of tracer down, like barium, so that they could watch the movement, or lack thereof, through Madison's system.  This way they would be able to look for any obstructions, or kinks.
 While we were at the hospital Madison started throwing up again, so she has not been given anything by mouth since the feeds were stopped at noon today, and she will not be given anything by mouth again until at least tomorrow morning.  Also the surgeon stopped by today to watch our new dressing change, and he was saying that they are going to start talking about moving Madison to the children's hospital again.  He believes that they have a better support team for babies that are having feeding problems, such as an occupational therapist that will help Madison get pleasure from her mouth, so that when she is able to feed properly she will still want to, also they have a nutritionist, and basically a whole team of professionals just for feeding and gastrointestinal problems.  So back and forth we go from feeding to no feedings, to moving to the children's hospital, to staying a foothills...
Aside from all of the feeding problems, and throwing up Madison is still a calm and happy baby.  She only fusses because she is so hungry, she sucks on her soother, and my finger, and her hand, and anything else you will let her have...poor girl she wants it, but her body will not let her have it; it is tummy tug-of-war!  Madison doesn't appear to be in any pain, or suffering in anyway, I just wanted you all to know that.  We have been holding her everyday, and giving her all the kisses and love that we can, and all the kisses from you guys too!  Thanks for all your support, and pray for our little girls little tummy!