Day #7 Early Bird Today........

Today is Thursday April 23rd and Reese started her day @ 4:30 am! This was not going to be good....We arrive at CHOP every morning at 7:45am. We were sure to be on time today! Starting off with my cup of tea from the Connelly center. We went to the Seashore house to begin our first feeding @ 8:30am. I am still behind the glass watching at this point..... Reese seems to be handling herself well. Whenever the cheese omelet is offered she gives a look like you want me to eat this again! Hopefully that will pass soon..... From there we went back to the Connelly ctr to grab a private room to watch a DVD and hopefully get a few minutes of rest. Reese wasn't having that. We stayed around for story time but she wasn't having that either.....
By this time it was getting close to another feeding. The 11:30 am feeding went OK again. After that we had an appt with speech to evaluate Reese for skills on chewable and drinking from a cup. She was resistant at first but did come around (as she always does) Speech will be involved over the next two weeks with Reese. Speech helps with learning how to bite down when mashed or soft chewable are introduced. This will be some time before Reese reaches this point, but she will need to know how to do it before she can even try a more textured food such as mashed..... Did I mention I almost fell asleep during this evaluation. Reese finished her last session @ 2pm and off to an appointment with Pulmonary. So we left Chop today @ 4:10. Who says it's easier to be a stay at home mom?
Daddy is going with Reese tomorrow.........

Day #6 Cheese Omelet!

Today is Wednesday April 22nd. First feeding starts out with the basics....yogurt, pudding & applesauce. Her feedings are looking more like home. Loosing interest in trying to be a big girl and did it herself. The self feeding is becoming more of an effort, but with help she continues to accept. This means meal two for today will include cheese omelet! I warned her feeding Reese does not like COLD eggs. Who does??? Surprisingly her first few bites (very small) went well for the most part.... The temperature did not affect her like it has in the past when I fed her. She seems to be doing well for the most part. Not her favorite foods at this point! The applesauce doesn't seem that bad to Reese right now.... It is funny to see her facial expressions from the other side. I know that feeling won't last once I am face to face and she pulls out every trick in her book!


Today was also OT with Christie in the POOL! Reese didn't want to separate from me at first but once I disappeared behind the wall she forgot about me and enjoyed her session. Three therapists worked with Reese in the pool with balancing on a platform with waves for core strengthening and swimming motions using her arms. They also worked on some other stuff! Reese did really enjoy the pool......and the shower afterwards!

Day # 5 Starting 2nd Week of Clinic

First week complete and ready for number two week! Today is Tuesday April 21st. Still on yogurt, pudding and applesauce. Sessions have been increased from 10 bites per session to 15 bites. Reese is continuing to accept all bites and doing better at self feeding. She needs help with the spoon to her mouth but is handling a larger volume on the spoon. She has made progress with each day and continues to enjoy the sessions at this point.....Let's hope it continues!!!

Day #4 Out Sick Today

Today was Monday April 20th. Not at the feeding clinic today, home sick with mom. Here is a picture of me and my two Big brothers Nicholas & Mason on Easter........

Day #3 Introduced Applesauce To Conclude Week #!!

Today was Friday April, 17th, Reese's third day at the clinic. Today her feedings included applesauce as well as yogurt & pudding. Applesauce would be offered slowly into the sessions. The volume would be very small since this is a new food. Reese accepts all bites with some gagging from time to time. This is usually what occurs with any new food.... As Reese continues to eat and accepts each bite a new food will be introduced. This program is about acceptance and not volume of food. Reese will not get to large volume but hopefully reach a goal of variety vs volume. Anything is possible with practice and consistency......

Today, we played ball outside and watched a movie on the computer to pass the time by.........
Sorry for the delay with Reese's progress!