5-29-14 Update -- SICKNESS

So, odd fact from the last week in the Gerling family.  Only one member of the Gerling family has not been on medication this past week.... Chloe.  Two weeks ago, on Thursday morning, Isaac and Abi woke up hacking and sneezing, which immediately removed them from the possibility of going to see baby Chloe.  I (Alan) stayed in the room with them Thursday and Friday so that they would lay low and start to get better.  Saturday and Sunday ended up being the same story, but by Monday, after several days of meds and no fevers, we were okay sending them to friends' houses again.

Then I woke up with a nasty cough on Monday morning.  No NICU visits for me Monday.  And Tuesday.  And Wednesday.  After chatting with our doctor back in Manhattan, I went to the urgent care facility because I was starting to wheeze and my lungs were starting to gurgle.  They put me on a Z-Pack and an inhaler and sent me home.  By Friday, Jodie was starting to get some sinus stuff and was wearing a mask to visit Chloe in the NICU, but on Saturday, she woke up with a cough like the rest of us.  Since none of us were comfortable visiting the NICU at this point, we gave up and headed back to Manhattan for a couple of days to relax and get out of this tiny room (which didn't used to feel all that small....).  Jodie was a little worse Saturday night, so she headed to K-Stat Sunday morning to get ahead of whatever she was getting.

So, the rundown.  Isaac is feeling better after his course of antibiotics.  Abi's cough is still hanging on, so after an adventure to find a pharmacy that had a pediatric nebulizer (BTW, if you're in the KC area, Georgetown Pharmacy in Merriam is a cool little pharmacy that felt like a small town store that had an old school soda fountain in it), she's doing breathing treatments.  Jodie is on the verge of a sinus infection, so she's on antibiotics to get ahead of it (and is feeling much better today).  After a second visit to urgent care, I am now on my second round of antibiotic (a much stronger one) and inhaler, with bronchitis and a sinus infection and probably a virus underlying it all.  On Tuesday, the doc thought it would still be another 4 or 5 days before I could go visit the NICU (when my cough is gone will be the sign).  If I've been feeling 30% for the last two weeks, I feel about 60 or 70% today, so I'm hopeful by tomorrow I might be well enough to see my little girl again.

So, how's Chloe doing?  Well, she is on a weight gain journey.  The only tube she has at this point is her feeding tube, which is feeding her on a constant basis.  She is on full formula feeds, needing no extra nutrients at this point.  With her hiatal hernia, she struggles with spit-up (hence the constant feed), and has been gaining slowly.  Each day, they want to see her gain 30 grams or so, and after a week or so of good weight gain, she's been maintaining the last couple of days, so they might put her on a high calorie, high protein formula.  They continue to monitor her heart, and it continues to be balanced well, so at this point, she simply needs to grow till she's 6 or 7 pounds, when they'll put in a G feeding tube (?), and possibly fix her hernia.  If all goes well with the feeding tube, she would go home with us at that point.  So, math time.  30 grams is a little over an ounce.  At this point, she is 4lb 3oz (I think), and she needs to be somewhere between 6 or 7 pounds.  There are 16 ounces in a pound.  So, we'll probably be here a while longer....

That said, what an awesome praise it is that the only thing we are working and concerned about at this point in her life is weight gain.  She isn't taking any medications!  Also, we've started discussion with the cleft lip/palette team about doing a surgery at 3 months to pull her lip together and begin stretching it out.

So, please pray that we all would get healthy soon.  Pray that Chloe will GROW!!!!!!!