Feeling better, we think.

We started Ellie's feeds this morning and she seems to be handling them well. By midday we didn't see any large amounts of dumping, so we increased the pump back to what she was running at when she was admitted. She is feeling better and a bit more active.

Here is a picture we didn't get to post from last Monday. We were walking to the Memorial Day Parade that is just a few blocks from our house.Looking back I think both Gib and I knew we would be heading in to "The Inn" soon. Ellie was excited to be at the parade, but she just sat there and watched everything. Normally we would have been fighting to get her to not join the marchers and leave us in the dust. But hindsight's.. Blah, blah, blah.

Ellie was feeling well enough that we really had to work at keeping her entertained so she didn't beg to get out of bed and run around hospital. The child life specialist set Ellie up with a great play dough factory set up and some sticker activity sets.She loved them. We also got a chance to take her down to the garden and play in the grass. You should have seen some of the looks we got as we carried her big IV pole right past the "stay off the grass" sign and plopped down right in the center of the lawn. After a bunch of good tickle sessions, games a catch, a good search for any jets in the sky, we headed back up stairs. I don't know who it was better for, Ellie or her parents.

Ellie is very comfortable in the hospital and loves her nurses. We had Jen today and Ellie was talking to her all day. They listened to each other's hearts and Ellie helped Jen take her temp about 20 time more than was needed.

So for now the plan is watch how she does on her feeds. If she tolerates them well today and overnight. Then we go home tomorrow. If not... well then we will see. It is looking more and more like what made her sick was a virus, sadly we figured this out because we think we passed it on to another family and their short gut child. (We didn't know she was going to get sick, Honest!) But at least now we know it is a virus and not some sudden change in the layout of her bowel.