A WORK IN PROGRESS

So, Priya is doing great! We thought things couldn't get much better with her, but she had an appointment with her speech therapist, and evidently things could get better, and they already have!

We have been really proud of Priya, because she hasn't had to use her g-tube for feeding for quite some time.  We have noticed some things with her oral feeding like needing to make frequent stops while drinking her milk, rolling the nipple of her bottle around with her tongue, and more recently coughing during feeds (I can only describe it as slightly chaotic feeding behavior), but we thought it was all just stuff that was normal for her due to her cleft and tongue and was the best she could do.  We did talk to her ENT about the coughing, and he thought she might need a swallow study and recommended we see what her speech therapist thought.  Her appointment with her speech therapist was today, and come to find out, all we needed to do was feed her laying on her side, and WA-LA!  We've been applying the new positioning today, and she has been able to keep her bottle in her mouth during her feeds and pace herself while taking good breaths and drinking.  She appears to be calmer, and she doesn't cough.  The speech therapist said she thinks her tongue was blocking her airway during feeds and that laying on her side helps roll it away.  She also said that the coughing reflex is probably just showing up more recently due to her prematurity.  She will see Priya again in a week and thinks that we probably won't need a swallow study--yay!  So proud of my baby girl!  She has really had to deal with a lot.  It kind of bums me out that she has had more difficulty breathing during eating than we were even aware of due to the immaturity of her reflexes, but now that we know what might be going on and have been able to change some things, she is showing  how capable she is of doing things even better when given the proper care.  Mom and dad just needed the right info.  Love my baby girl!