We Have a Tubie Baby Now

At around three months old, our youngest son, Liam, officially became a Tubie baby.

First, an NG tube was placed twice. If you aren’t familiar, an NG tube or Nasogastric Tube is a tube that is placed through the nose and down to the stomach. Which would then get attached to a feeding bag and either pumped or gravity-fed into the person. Liam just ended up pulling this tube out. So, instead, it was decided that he would get a G-Tube or Gastromytube that would be surgically implanted into his stomach. With this tube, he would be fed his formula with the assistance of a small pump. It’s not what any parent wants for their child. But, it is necessary to keep him healthy and gain the weight needed for proper development.

After a few days in the hospital again, we left with Liam and a couple of new medical devices that the hospital showed Bea how to use once or twice. Then we were on our way, and hopefully also on the road to recovery and weight gain for our baby boy.
What we were now the caretakers of (because it was rental equipment) was a Kangaroo Joey Enteral feeding pump, all the necessary attachments, an IV pole, and a bag for the pump so we could feed Liam on the go, if need be.

The first couple of days with the pump was not an enjoyable time. I was afraid of accidentally pulling out the tube, not hooking it upright, not setting the pump correctly, or what I read on all the FaceBook pages…overfeeding him. Overfeeding is by far the worst thing that would and did happen while Laim had his tube.

Learning to live with the tube eventually became second nature and was just an annoying extension of Liam’s body.

If you want to see what setting up the pump was like, you should check out this YouTube video from Mount Carmel below.