A what a big puzzle!!!

This little Emma has been such an amazingly complex puzzle!!!! Such complexity in such a small person. As much as I love finding problems and then solutions, I think I've had my fill for life.
So here goes...
Yesterday was her cookie swallow. To sum it up, she is stronger. She is not aspirating nectar (obviously) that is what she is on now (with the thickened milk with rice cereal 1:1). So they tried her with a honey consistency (this could lessen her down to a thickened milk of a 1:2 ratio). She did not aspirate that. However, she did penetrate it pretty deeply - almost to her vocal chords. She did aspirate straight milk. What this all means is that we could lessen the thickness of her milk but we do risk her aspirating. On a personal note - now that I've found a formula that doesn't make her puke, I'm not ready to change anything. But we knew we needed to talk to the doctors today to discuss her plans.
So today was her NICU follow-up. Mike and I were both in shock when they put her on the scale and she had lost an ounce (in 4 weeks!!!!). She has barely puked up anything in a week!!!! How is this happening!!!
Well, the doctor came in and we started out talking about a g-tube. He said we can start out with doing some medical therapy with the GI doctor and see if we can get the reflux under control. Then the next step would be a G-tube. But then we were talking about how much she is drinking and how she has barely thrown anything up in a week. So that got our wheels turning. Maybe we are looking at the wrong thing. What really made his wheels turn was when he listened to her lungs. He said they are clear. I said I know. He said have they always been clear. I said yes. So everything shifted at that point. If there is no fluid on her lungs, and she is on such a harsh diuretic, then what are we getting rid of??? She is basically becoming dehydrated. She is getting rid of all her fluid in her body. So this goes back to make sense of other problems.
Lasix is increasing the calcium in her.
Lasix is depleting the electrolytes in her.
Lasix is probably why she is not gaining any weight.
The dehydration is not helping her calcium buildup in her kidneys.
So the plan is now....that we will still see a GI specialist to rule out the reflux problem and just see what is going on. But most importantly, the game plan is to get her off her lasix!!! We have started the weaning process but it will take a couple of weeks. If I see that she needs more oxygen, I'm to call the doctor and we will probably start her on some diarel (a different diuretic). We will repeat the blood work next week and see if it has made a difference. If it has, I'm sure we will then do another sono of her kidneys (we haven't done one in a month and a half). I'm praying this is the problem. We really need to get this under control. We have a month to do that. We don't want to go any later because we don't want to hurt/affect her growth for the future, especially her brain development.
Please keep us in your prayers that we, the doctors and us, will figure this puzzle out. The last thing we want to do is hurt her and if a g-tube is the way to go, sign us up. But if this is the solution, then that would be awesome!!
I know this is complex. After Alyssa I felt like I earned my nursing degree. After Emma, I think I earned my white coat. : )

By the way, the weights are...
Olivia....11 lb. 8 oz.
Emma....7 lb. 8 oz.

4 pounds different. Crazy!!
The girls will be 6 months old on the 22nd of this month. They are beautiful and so sweet!!!

Last Saturday we had two amazing ladies come and watch all our children for us. As a bonus, they were nurses. It allowed Mike and I to get out of the house together and have the whole day. It was so incredible. We saw a movie and got almost all our Christmas shopping done. We just walked and talked and ate. The food was warm and we didn't have to share. We just really enjoyed the day. It was much needed and our girls had a great time!!! What a treat!!!! Thank you!!!

Tomorrow I go in for blood work. I am having a CAT SCAN done on the tumor on my left kidney on Friday. They want to see if it has gotten any worse or ruptured or if it is bleeding. This will also tell them exactly what this tumor is. I'm not worried about anything but I will keep you informed of what I find out. I would like to know how big "massive" is though. Just how many pounds could I loose if we got ride of that? Hee hee.

Well, have a great night! I'll keep updating when I can find a minute to breathe. :)
Love,
Bethany

p.s. I'll try to post pictures next time.