We had our family conference today with the surgeons, Leah’s NICU doctor and the social worker. Aunti Staci came too so she could ask fancy medical questions. I think in terms of Leah’s progress over the next few months we didn’t hear anything really new new – this was mostly explaining in more technical and concrete terms what we already sort of knew vaguely – that we’re waiting to see how long the gap is between Leah’s esophagus and her stomach, what the surgical options are depending on what the gap looks like, and what potential post-surgery outcomes we can expect. The first time we met the surgeons they reviewed this information briefly, but once we heard “five months” come out of their mouths everything pretty much sounded like Charlie Brown grown-ups (“Wa wahh, wah wah wah wahhhh”). It was nice to be able to meet with them again after having had some time to process what we’re going to be facing these next few months.

So here’s the substantive update for now: Later this month they will take the g-tube out and put a “Mic-Key” button, which will allow BabyBug to only be hooked up to the feeding tube during the times when she’s actually feeding. The rest of the time the “button” will be closed. For right now this probably doesn’t mean much to her, although her mamas are SUPER excited about getting to put her in all the adorable onesies we have waiting for her at home. But if she still has to feed by tube when she’s a little older, then it’ll make a bigger difference to her as it allows for more freedom of movement; kids can run around wearing these things. When they do the procedure to put in the Mic-Key button, that’s when they will do the contrast study to visualize the gap and also check on some other issues that could potentially arise with her condition. So hopefully by the end of this month we’ll have a better idea of what the next steps look like. Either way, they’re still planning to wait for surgery until she reaches about 9-10 lbs, for a variety of reasons both general and particular.

Other than that, not too much news to report today. BabyBug went through epic numbers of diapers, and things got really messy a couple of times. She thinks it’s adorable to wait until the diaper’s off and in the process of being changed before she really gets going. And we’re getting to see the fussy side of Sweet Calm BabyBug as she’s finally starting to experience hunger. She was on continuous feeds but slowly they have been shifting her to interval feeding. At this point her feeds are about 40mL over the course of half an hour, with 2.5 hours in between each feed. By the end of that 2.5 hour stretch, BabyGirl is HUNGRY and FUSSY and REALLY PISSED OFF. Then about 20 seconds after they start the milk, she calms down. It’s magic!

In other news… this afternoon I went downstairs to the cafeteria today to heat up Mama Mandy’s lunch for her. When I came back up I sat in the waiting room for a few minutes and then looked around and noticed it was awfully crowded today and some people had rearranged the chairs in the middle. And they had installed new vending machines. A few minutes later I looked up and saw somebody being wheeled out of the double-doors next to the waiting room. I thought to myself, “Why are they wheeling a man out of post-partum???” Then I realized it was the cardiac wing. Wrong floor. Whoops. Baby brain!