Taken just after the tube came out.

Stella is off and running. I am so proud of her. In short, she is responding well and our confidence is growing. She can do this.

It is expected that she will lose a little bit of weight. I am on strict instructions to NOT WORRY about how much she eats or when. To NOT PANIC if she goes a few hours without eating. That is the challenge. I am simply to trust her to know when she’s hungry and how much she needs. To know that she will tell me in her own way that she is okay–or if she’s not. This simple trust is a bit harder than it sounds, due to our scary experiences of a couple months ago.  But we are beyond all that now. I am ready and so is Stella. Her intake will increase as she adjusts.

The only remaining concern is her reflux and how much of an impact it has on her desire to eat. It definitely still bothers her sometimes. But I think she is comfortable enough to pull through it. I don’t think it will stop her.

This morning, we ventured over to Seattle Children’s Hospital for Stella’s occupational therapy appointment with Robin, who was incredibly helpful and reassuring as always. She is pretty central to this process and to Stella’s progress thus far. I am to call her tomorrow to check in. I feel very supported in this proces–by Robin, Stella’s pediatrician, and the Austrian doctor as well, who has been keeping in close email contact. It’s funny–the Austrian clinic’s approach to weaning is almost identical to what I’m hearing from Robin. It’s all coming together.

This is huge. The tube weaning process is no cake walk, but we are feeling good. Stella seems happy–even more so than usual.

As so many of you have already said, “Go, Stella, go!”