The Tube Moves In, The Tube Moves Out

Susanne was up and at em' quite early this morning. Paxton had an occupational therapy appointment at 10:30am. He had been up well before his appointment so Susanne was worried that he would be tired for his session.

Paxton ended up doing much better than Susanne thought he would. He showed off his new skill of being able to pull both of his legs to his chest. He did a great job grasping for toys and tracking objects. His head control was improving, but not as quickly as they had hoped. Only time would tell. Susanne learned some new techniques to try to encourage him to roll on his side on his own. Also, she worked on different positions to place him in to promote the instinct to crawl. He was forced to put weight on his knees for the first time.

Paxton slept for a long time after his session was finished. He was tuckered out. When he woke up, Susanne spent some quality time with him. She was surprised to see how sensitive Paxton had become to certain sounds. He seemed to startle very easily these days. He would almost flinch at times when Susanne would start up with a song or say his name. It was actually quite humorous.

At some point during the day, Paxton had multiple episodes of dry heaving and gagging. They became closer in succession over such a short period of time. It was not common for him to carry on like that for as long as he did. Susanne noticed that when he would cough, sneeze, or even just breathe, his NG tube would move in and out of his nose. It looked like the stickers that held the tube in place were loosening up at the edge. This was due to all of the saliva that he wasn't swallowing. Susanne knew what she had to do. She decided to replace the stickers before Paxton had a chance to pull the entire NG tube out. One would think that this would be an easy task, but not so much. Peeling off the sticker that was adhered directly to his face appeared to be straightforward, but the challenge came when trying to separate it from the overlying sticker that was holding the tube in place. Susanne had to use scissors to cut the stickers apart while also restraining a flailing, crying baby in place. After multiple attempts, she was successful. Thankfully, no one was injured during the process.

Susanne read Paxton a few books before bedtime. He really seemed to take a liking to "Go Dog, Go", in particular. It was so interesting to observe him processing each and every page. Even though it was probably impossible, he actually looked like he was absorbing it all and following right along. Susanne just knew this kid was going places.