Way To Cough Kayley!

As you can see from the picture, Kayley tried to feed from a bottle again today. A speech pathologist was here with Megan to give it a try this time. I guess she can tell better than anyone else how well Kayley does or doesn't do. And from what she said, today's bottle feeding was a success. Kayley received 8 cc's from the bottle this time. The speech pathologist thought she did very well. At one point, Kayley coughed and she thought that was great. Here is my best interpretation of how that conversation went between Megan and the speech pathologist.

Kayley: Cough!

Speech Pathologist (SP): Oh, great cough Kayley. That's what we like to hear.

Megan: What do you mean? I thought coughing meant that she was choking.

SP: It does.

Megan (with a puzzled look): So why are we wanting her to choke?

SP: It's an indication that her body understands that she's choking and is responding by coughing.

Megan: What else would her body do?

SP: Well, some babies just let the milk slide right down.

Megan (even more puzzled): Well then how can you tell they're choking?

SP: You will see it in their vital signs.

Megan: I see. (to Kayley) Good cough Kayley!

So, we learn something new again today. We all take for granted that our body just knows how to react in certain distressed situations like choking. We've always coughed and haven't thought twice about it because we learned it in the womb. Well, this is one of the things that Kayley is learning outside the womb and with milk and a bottle instead of amniotic fluid. So, good cough Kayley! Keep it up!

A couple days ago, Kayley's doctor put in the order to have Kayley try to feed from the bottle once a day. Well, since Kayley did so well today, the speech pathologist is going to request that the doctor change the order to say that the nurse can feed Kayley from a bottle whenever they see cues that she would do well. For instance, if Kayley is wide awake tomorrow for her 9 am feeding, then that would be a good time to try the bottle again. If she was sleeping, they'd just pump it down her tube like they have been doing. So hopefully that order gets changed soon and Kayley gets more practice than once a day.

I don't know Kayley's current weight yet because she hasn't been weighed tonight. The nurse was scrambling a bit when I arrived because she was running a little late. Another one of her babies was keeping her on her toes. So, the weighing will wait until midnight and we'll know Kayley's weight in the morning.