Actually, it's not reflux

(This is what I get for posting before I talk to the doctors.  Here's the latest scoop.)

Sophie is having difficulty eating, but it's NOT due to reflux, which is basically food coming back up the esophagus.  After she starts drinking, she gets tired and can't move the muscles that close off her vocal cords and airways fast enough, so she aspirates (fancy word for breathes) while she's eating.  Somehow, thickening the milk up helps her keep from doing this.  It slows down how fast it travels I guess, and gives her time to close off the windpipe before the fluid gets there and she swallows.

Today the speech therapists came in and used some new gel thickener, which made the milk the consistency of honey, and she was able to drink a whole bottle.  They have determined that it's not a coordination issue.  She has the suck, swallow, breathe thing down and the test yesterday plus this feeding today proved it.  (You might be asking yourself, "Self, why didn't they do this test weeks ago?"  I have no idea.  We've learned there's no point in asking things like that--just be glad they thought of it eventually!)   The problem is that it's more work and the doctor says she will never be able to do all 8 feedings this way every day.  For now they will stick with the 2 per day and see if her weight continues to increase.  The cardio doc ordered another echo cardiogram for tomorrow morning and they will see how her VSD is doing.  Then they will have another powwow and decide what it means.  

So basically, there are two choices:  Either they will fix things with a procedure sooner rather than later, or they will work out a way for us to be able to administer her feeds ourselves and take her home in the not-so-distant future as she continues to grow.  The latest I heard from our neonatologist today was that her VSD is not large (or they would have fixed it the first time they went in), and they still think there are good odds it might get better on its own as she matures.  If we can get her home and possibly not even need another surgery, that seems like the best of both worlds to me.

But it's not up to us, so we'll see.