Look I Drank It All

Jaden drank his whole feed from his Sippy Cup for the very first time last night.

Just within the last couple of weeks I have been noticing him sucking better and better on his sippy and he was drinking more and more each time I would offer it to him. Before his last brain surgery he would suck a couple of times and that would be it, but now after surgery I can really tell that the cyst must be starting to drain. Jaden's Neurologist shared with us that the size cyst that was sitting on his brain stem could keep him from swallowing and we are beginning to think that it must have been why he couldn't suck properly because he couldn't swallow good.

Jaden's Speech Therapist just started this Friday coming back again since surgery and she was so amazed at how well he was eating and sipping his cup. We talked about putting a whole feed of PediaSure in his cup just to see how he would do. I knew he was really drinking and sucking his juice so good out of it, so last night that's what I did. I always offer some food and juice to him while we are feeding him through his g-tube just so he is aware and associates food with him knowing his tummy is getting full without him actually working for it on his own. I spoon fed him some PediaSure first just so he could get use to the taste, I didn't want him to take his first sip and be expecting juice because that's what I normally have been giving him in is cup and then I poured it into his sippy cup and he took right off sucking away until it was all gone.
James and I was so amazed to sit and watch our baby suck that cup dry, he has never done this before. We was so excited that he did it all by himself and that we didn't have to get his feed bag out, mix up the formula, pour it in, prime the tubing, pull for air out of his g-tube, hook him up, set the dial, and wait for 30 minutes till it all runs in. We just poured milk into a cup, fed it to him and after about 10 minutes it was all gone, that's it, just like a normal baby. Wow! We tried it again at his last feed of the night before we hook him up to his pump just to see if he could do it all over again and he did.

We are praising the Lord because He knows our hearts and how we have felt ever since Jaden has been born of how we have had to feed him. We absolutely hate hooking Jaden up to a feed bag and having to feed him though his little g-tube but that's the only way he could survive because before this surgery he could have never sipped his whole feed from a cup and we are so excited that he wants to suck and wants to drink all on his own. We definitely are headed in the right direction and we are praying so hard that it will continue to get better and better. James and I talked about how easy it was today at church to feed Jaden. We had his sippy cup right there in the pew with his PediaSure in it and he just sipped and sipped and sipped and that's it. How easy is that.......We have always had to sit in the back or go to the Nursery and find a place to hang his feed bag and you know the story if you have ever watched how we have been feeding him. We know God's in control and we are trusting in Him and believing that He said He will give you the desires of your hearts. Our desires is that some day soon Jaden will no longer have to be fed through his g-tube and that he will soon catch up.

He gives food to every living creature. His love continues forever. Psalm 136:5

Lord, we thank you for this food, for rest, Home, and all things good; for wind, rain, and sun above,

but most of all we thank you for Your unending love.