This is the blog for Gavin and Carrie Jones and family. We live in Papua New Guinea and are working to see lives transformed by the living Word of God through Bible translation. Gavin is a helicopter pilot. Carrie, who has her degree in Public Health, works in the lab at our busy rural clinic. Our son, Isaac, was born in 2004 and our quintuplets, Will, David, Marcie, Seth, and Grace, were born in 2012.

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. The you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. -Proverbs 3:3-6

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

prayer requests

Hi all!

Thanks for your sweet comments, as always. :)

We would love to figure out what's going on with Seth's profuse vomiting. It does seem somewhat better since he was switched to an elemental formula, and MUCH better since we started venting his tube to let the air out, but he still heaves and loses everything several times a day. Please pray for wisdom for the medical staff. There is often some blood in it, too, as it's damaging to his tummy and esophagus to be vomiting like that. He's not on Prevacid yet, but that's the next step (tomorrow, perhaps).

A news crew is coming on Friday; associated with Children's Medical Center. We're not quite sure what's up, but we're happy to have our babies used as a testimony of God's love and provision of excellent medical care!

All of the babies are starting to nap on a semi-regular schedule, at least in the morning. Hooray! What bliss! And they are starting to go to bed earlier, like 9 or 10 p.m. I realize the parts I was most dreading about their babyhood are over; praise God for His grace in providing all we needed and even a lot of what we wanted (i.e. nights out!) during this time!

Another praise is that the reflux for the four healthier babies seems to be a LOT better. They are all taking at least some breast milk again and tolerating it well.

David is getting a helmet for his little misshapen head. That will be cute - pictures to follow!

Seth is just getting happier and happier and more and more relational. He is SUCH a delight! As are each of his siblings! They have all discovered their hands and how to suck on fists. I swear they would shove the whole thing in if they could. Will and David like to make "razzing" sounds with their lips and tongues. All the babies follow us around the room with their eyes and heads. All enjoy their little dangling toys on their play mat and know how to get the dangling rings on the bouncy seat jumping. They are also grasping and batting at toys. Seth entertained himself for a good half-hour yesterday, just batting the same toys over and over again. He's definitely got less neck strength, so I am eager to get his therapy started. He's doing well as far as sticking things in his mouth, but not so well as far as sucking and swallowing. Still makes him gag.

Wow, I had time to actually WRITE today!! ;)

Love and gratitude,
Carrie

11 comments:

  1. I don't know if this will help with any of the babies but I had one baby who vomitted nearly every time I nursed him. I was concerned. We were in a place with no doctor but a nurse told me that one of hers also had done than and that when he began to stand it stopped. That is exactly what happened with our baby. It seems that sometimes their stomach muscles are not strong enough until they can stand and, ultimately walk. Our baby did not lose weight but continued to gain normally so there wasn't concern for that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I want to hear how Seth responded to suddenly being surrounded by all of these BABIES when he came home??

    ReplyDelete
  3. Could Seth not be tolerating breast milk or cow milk based formula? Blood in vomit sometimes indicates an allergy...?

    Susan

    ReplyDelete
  4. When our son was this age, we would by a helium mylar silver balloon and loosely tie it to his foot or hand when he was laying on the floor. This entertained for a good 30 minutes as he watched it dance against the ceiling. I'd also tie it to a toy rattle and put that in front of his swing so that as the swing moved forward the seat would kick it keeping him entertained and giggling.

    Also, have you checked any FB sites for vomiting, G tubes and GJ tubes. Those moms can be a viable resource as you navigate being tubie parents.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Praying for discernment for the medical staff as they try to determine Seth's tummy issues and praising God for how well he and the other quints are doing otherwise, and for a regular nap schedule! Thank You for all your blessings, Lord. NKL

    ReplyDelete
  6. When it comes to G-tube feeding for our one twin son with reflux and a lot of gas problems, venting the tube 3 times per feeding is what really helped him. (But I see you say you are venting so guess I'm not much help suggesting that :-) Also how fast is he getting his milk, could it be that he receives it too fast for him to handle? For the first while our G-tube fed son, received his milk (breast milk fortified with formula) over on hour's time. So he started with 1 hour feeding and 2 hours in between. Very time consuming but was what worked for him to handle it. He also was on a very very slow continuous feed at night. Then eventually discontinued that and kept giving the milk faster till it was down to 20 minutes I think. He was 5 months before I really started working with him to take a bottle and then it would take about 30 minutes for one ounce at first, and finished off with G-tube, but he did get to 11 months and taking everything by mouth. So there's a few suggestions, but I understand that things work different for each child. Ours has congenital heart defect caled Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, so totally different from your Seth. By the way our little guy is three now and no G-tube and totally up to 3 yrs level development. Hang in there and thanks for all the wonderful pictures. Praying for y'all!

    ReplyDelete
  7. P.S. Our son also took a product called Bubble B-Gone. (A natural herbal liquid) that worked wonders for him. Okay, Thats all now. God bless y'all with the strength needed for each day!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Be careful of using any product not prescribed by your physician. Herbal products are not FDA approved and certainly not intended for premature infants. Their liver and kidneys are immature and may not be able to metabolize or excrete the ingredients in that product.

    I noticed in the video that he was lying flat when you were giving him the gavage feeding. Is there a possibility that you could put a wedge under his crib where you are feeding in a more head up position?

    What is the amount and frequency of his feedings?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Has he had an xray to check for malrotation? My 4 month old was born with it and vomited all the time until it was fixed.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is a good site to spent time on .I just stumbled upon your informative blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts.

    christian prayer requests

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh my goodness! Awesome article dude! Thank you,
    However I am going through issues with your RSS. I don't understand why I am unable to join it. Is there anybody else getting the same RSS issues? Anyone who knows the answer will you kindly respond? Thanx!!

    My website; airplane games
    my web page: airplane flying games

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Gavin, Carrie, Isaac, Will, David, Marcie, Seth, & Grace Jones

Gavin, Carrie, Isaac, Will, David, Marcie, Seth, & Grace Jones

Blog Archive