Prepare to eat, Lilly!

Lilly's swallow test this morning was a success! L.J., the speech pathologist, was so happy she said "You must have prayed as hard about this as I did!" I told her I not only prayed but sent out a prayer request. God has answered, once again! Lilly can safely eat without aspirating. :)

L.J. strapped Lilly into a bouncey seat that was on a big chair in front of an x-ray machine. She mixed barium into water and into applesauce. Lilly took water with a dropper and a bottle. And she even swallowed a tiny bit of applesauce, though it took her a little time to figure out what to do with it. It was fascinating watching her swallowing and the liquids going down on the x-ray.

Lilly does swallow at a lower point than normal, but it is still OK. We just need to be careful to give her small amounts at a time and be sure she's swallowed before putting more in her mouth. We also will need to have her checked again in a few years when her body is bigger.

So the current food plan is to start by feeding her milk with a dropper. Let her get used to that. (These are nice soft droppers. Lilly no longer has a suck instinct but she likes to bite down.) Then after that is going well move up to the Habermann feeder. Then L.J. said we ought to try a sippy cup with a nice nubby spout, since Lilly does prefer to bite.

Having this study done is definitely one blessing God brought out of this hospital stay.

Lilly is continuing to be cut back on her oxygen. Dr. H said he'd like her to be off it by evening. Then if she has a good night we can go home tomorrow. YAY!!!!!!!!! I wanted to shout and jump for joy when he said that. :)

"O give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known His doings among the peoples!" - 1 Chronicles 16:8