Today was a big day for the Bun. She ended up having a bath twice, if that gives any indication.

The night included lots of interrupted zzzzs, so the day started at 7:30am when Ella decided that she had been in her crib long enough. By the time we made coffee, ate breakfast, gave Ella meds, tried to feed her with the bottle, and then fed her via g-tube, it was almost 10am.

Then, we all needed bathing. Time was ticking along quickly today and we needed to pick up a prescription for Ella by 12:30pm. The specialized pharmacy is across town and we needed to go to Sam’s Club too. So, we decided to take Ella with us.

We’re always nervous taking her out anywhere since there is a higher risk of her getting sick. But we had cabin fever so badly, we decided to go for it.

Overall, Ella was great. I took her in the stroller and Josh pushed around the cart separately and did the shopping. At first, she was engaged by the different surroundings and sounds. Then she just wanted to suck her binky and take a nap. She kept fussing for the binky and since it was busy, I was having a tough time accommodating her while trying to weave through the people. Finally, Josh needed a restroom break and we stopped in a corner. My creativity kicked into high gear as I crafted a solution for the Bun, as you can see below.

We were gone for about 2 hours on that errand, but it felt like a long time. Probably just because it was so much work taking her along.

Once we came back to our apartment, we had lunch and I left Dad and the Bun to head out again to the regular grocery store for the other half of the shopping list. When I came back and put it all away, it was already 5:30pm and time to prepare feeding Ella again.

I had purchased rice cereal at the store, upon recommendation from Dr. Sarantos. I grabbed other fruits and veggies that she suggested and will store them for future feeding sessions. When the time for 6pm feed came, I thought we should try the rice cereal first to gauge her response.

Unfortunately, Ella did not like eating the rice cereal…and we are not talking a small amount of dissatisfaction. It got her fired up. She really did not like the experience. We thought it was maybe that she hadn’t napped in a while or was too hungry and figured we could try later. We are talking the increased oxygen to 1 liter and she is purple/bluish and crying so hard. Fortunately, we were able to calm her down after about 10 minutes to take a decent picture.

Did I mention that by this time of the day, I had changed Ella’s poopy diaper three times? Seemed a bit looser than usual, but nothing really came to mind or caused concern. Finally after the fourth dirty diaper of the day, I remembered.

Dr. Sarantos stated that we could add a very small amount of sugar to Ella’s bottle feeds. So all day yesterday and this morning, we were adding sugar. But we did not have regular sugar. The only sugar in our cabinet was brown sugar. I googled infants and brown sugar to make sure that it was not a problem. When I saw that it is usually used in remedies to relieve infant constipation, I knew it was safe for her. However without realizing it, we had given her a laxative without meaning to! No wonder she went sooo many times today. Hmmm….maybe that is also why she had a blow out with Dad yesterday morning? It’s certainly possible.

After trying to feed Ella again with rice cereal this evening and having her completely melt down, we opted for bath time again. She had gotten so diaphoretic (sweaty) all over her body and this was the second time today that she bathed in sweat. I just had to put her in the bath again.

Fortunately, she liked the warm bath and shortly after I fed her via g-tube with her full belly, she went down for the night at 9:30pm. That is a bit later for Ella, so we are hoping this means that she will stay in bed longer tonight.

We praise Him for our baby girl. We ask for His strength and perseverance to make it through each day and give Ella just what she needs. We plead for endurance to make it through the feeding issues. We know it is important for Ella to learn, but it is so tough to be disciplined when you feel like you are torturing your baby.

We know He has a reason for everything and although we do not know His plan, we want to be obedient.

2 Corinthians 2:9
The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.