There is a time for everything...

As I re-launch this blog, we are in a period of waiting.  I feel like we are waiting on so many things and they all seem contingent on each other.  We are waiting to get to Spain.  This is the biggest one as we've been "waiting" for this for over three years.  We are anxiously waiting to get Sunshine into a feeding clinic (more details on that below).  We are waiting to pack up our house, but don't want to do that completely until we know when we'll be going to the feeding clinic.  We are waiting to move to Colorado Springs to live with my parents, but also don't know when that will happen until we know when we get into the feeding clinic.

In case you didn't notice, a lot is depending on when we get approval for Sunshine to go to the "feeding clinic".  We applied for the feeding program at St. Mary's Center for Children in Evansville, Indiana back in November.  We were then scheduled for an evaluation, which took place in February.  At the evaluation, we were advised that the 2 month intensive program would be the best thing for Sunshine to develop the necessary skills and increase the volume she is able to take by mouth.  The application process for insurance approval then began.  Over the next few months, there were uncountable bumps in the approval process.  Since the insurance specialists at the clinic were working on this, we didn't even know all the difficulties that were coming up. All we knew was that it wasn't going well.  Then we got a letter informing us that Sunshine's type of Medicaid would be automatically switched on June 1.  When we told the clinic this, they said that was the best news they had gotten all week.  Whatever issues had come up would not have been able to be resolved before June 1 anyway.  So, we anxiously waited for June to come so we could begin the application process again.  The first week of June arrived, only to find out that the automatic switch did not take place.  More waiting.  We were then told the switch wouldn't officially take place until July 1, but we could request it be processed sooner and be backdated to June 1.  After waiting the necessary two weeks, we called again.  This time we were told the request hadn't been processed and by now it is almost July anyway so why not just let it go and have the insurance switch on July 1st.  So, for this week, that means more waiting.

We are ready.  We are ready to pack up and move down to Evansville for 2 months.  We are ready for Sunshine to learn to eat!  We are ready to feel like we're moving forward in big ways.

But, there is purpose in this timing.  I'm sure of that.  Sunshine has progressed so far in these months of waiting.  Back in November when we started the application and in February when we did the evaluation in Evansville, she was constantly vomiting her Pediasure.  No matter how we set the pump she vomited frequently.  Some days and weeks were better than others, but honestly, any amount of projectile vomiting is too much.  She was also eating or attempting to eat very little.  We could occasionally get her to eat a few bites of thick purees, or she would munch on a few cheerios, but only a few and then she'd be done. 

Two months ago we were re-introduced to the idea of trying her on a "Blended Diet"--giving her real food through her G-tube.  We collected info from her nutritionist and were waiting on delivery of our Blendtec blender, and I decided to try giving her a couple ounces of babyfood peas mixed in with her Pediasure.  Miracle of miracles, she didn't throw up.  She has not vomited once since we started giving her real food, even mixed with the Pediasure, through her tube.  We are going on two months of no vomiting and in this house and that is a miracle.  Since making the switch to BD (Blended Diet), Sunshine has also been interested in and able to eat a lot more than she was.  I can hand her a toddler cup of cheerios and if she's hungry, she will eat half of it without any trouble!  Today with her Speech Therapist Sunshine ate seven different foods all with different textures.  Some of them were only a bite or sip, but others she came back to over and over again, taking 5-10 bites of them.  We were amazed.  She always does best when her therapist is here, but I think of it as seeing what she is capable of doing and then I try to encourage that throughout the week, introducing new things and continuing to work on what she already likes.  (This girl eats lots of cheerios!)

So, I know we're waiting.  And waiting is so hard.  But I can also see that God's timing hasn't come yet.  We were not ready to go to the feeding clinic in November, or even February, or even June for that matter.  I am sure they would have been able to help in amazing ways, but now, since Sunshine has progressed so far since then, I feel she is at the brink of taking off with these skills and the intensive therapy situation would be so good for her.  She is ready to be there.  We are ready to go.

Sunshine having FUN with food!  Yay!  And, by the way, a lot of that pudding did end up in her mouth.