Monthly Medical Supply Order!

Every month I place an order through our DME (Supply Company) for Mel's medical supplies. In this post I will show you what our normal supply order consists of and how I store it all!

Our normal supply order

• A month supply of food bags. Our DME is very good about making sure we receive exactly how many bags we need for each month. I have seen other people post online that their DME sends 30 bags a month regardless, which is ridiculous to me!
• Feeding tube extensions. We receive 4 bolus and 4 continuous extensions a month. This is plenty for us since I am able to clean the continuous extensions and they last quite a while and we only use the bolus extensions for venting!
• Pre-cut Gauze 2x2 pads. Each box of these contains 60 2x2s. On days when Mel's tube is leaking more than normal or if I need to clean her button more often I go through a few of these! Every month I have to make sure that these are on our order or we don't get them! 
• Syringes. We receive 6 of each of the following sizes, 3mL, 5mL, 10mL, 20mL and 60mL. I use the 20 and 60 mL more that the other sizes but I still get them every month just so we will have them!
• 4 Pulse Oximeter Probes. Mel is still on a pulse oximeter at night to alert us if her heart rate or oxygen dip to a dangerous level. When we were using the pulse ox 24/7 we ran through these probes like crazy! I was lucky if I could get one to last a week. Now that we are only using it at night I can get one to last around 2 sometimes 3 weeks! (I use posey wraps and a sock over Mel's probe, it helps keep it in place and also cuts down on outside light allowing the probe to read better!)

We used to also receive Suction canisters, hoses and tips. We don't use the portable suction as much as we used to so after creating quite a stockpile of these items I decided to hold off on them for now!


After I place our order with our supply company it usually take about 3 or 4 days to receive our supplies. I recommend that if you are new at tubie life to call your DME and see what their normal processing time is! That way you don't get stuck using 1 food bag for 4 days! (Which can be done if in an emergency, just clean very very well with hot water and or Coca-cola!!)

Storage

I have seen some pictures from other moms that have all their supplies neatly put away with adorable little labels on each bin and its legit Pinterest worthy. I'm not that mom. I simply have 2 plastic 3 drawer containers, it works for us!

This is a pretty minimal supply order and storage area compared to some people, depending on different medical equipment such as trachs and ports. Also some people receive their child's formula and Real Food Blends from their DME so they have much larger orders!


Do you have a lot that comes from your DME? How do you store your medical supplies? I would love to hear your feed back in the comments!!

Squeeze those little people of yours tight this evening it gonna be cold outside!!

Love until another day,
Shelbi

How do you Dress a Tubie??

When Mel received her feeding tube at 1 month old we were still in the NICU and she had just recently started regulating her own body temperature and was FINALLY able to wear tiny little preemie clothes! When she came back from surgery with a feeding tube inserted in her belly one of my first thoughts was "How the heck do I dress her now!?"

I have figured out that different outfits and styles of clothes work better than others for different occasions and different days! This is what works best for us but of course something may work better for your child and that is great! I would love to know if you do anything different!!

Lazy at Home Days:

I am a stay at home mom with Mel and my husband also works from home. We get teased by family and friend that we hare home bodies and well... I don't deny it! We like to be home in our own environment and be comfy and when we are home I want Mel to be comfortable and be able to move! For days like this Mel is in a onesie! Onesies are perfect with her tube because she can't grab it and I can snap her extension in between the snaps at the bottom of the onesie! When we stay home I normally leave her extension hooked to her button so I just leave the onesie snapped around it! 

Doctor Appointment and Errand Days:

As  much as we love staying home Mel has a lot of doctors appointments and with me being a stay at home mom and my husband being home all day sometimes momma just has to get out!! On days like this I like to put on Mel's extension for her feed but then take it off when she is not eating. This minimizes the chance of her extension getting snagged and also is just one less thing to watch out for when getting in and out of shopping carts or the stroller! So for days like this I opt for an outfit with a separate shirt and bottoms, dresses or rompers. This way I don't have to totally undress her to remove to attach her extension and I can do it fairly quickly and inconspicuously. The only thing I don't like about this type of dress is that it is easy to catch her extension on things so I have to be super careful and if anyone else is going to hold her I have to remind them of her food tube or remove it. 

                       

Sleeping:

When Mel was smaller she slept in sleep sacks. We had a couple that zipped from top to bottom which were great because we could just run her food tube out the bottom of the sleep sack. We were given some ADORABLE fleece sleep sacks that were amazing but the only way to run her tube out was up near her neck and this momma was not about to make the suffocation risk even higher! So my amazing Grannie who sews put a large button hole at the bottom of the sleep sack on both sides at the seams. This was fantastic because we could run her food tube through one of the holes and also her Pulse Ox cord through one to her little foot! 

Mel no longer uses sleep sacks and now just sleeps in a onesie and has her favorite flamingo blanket.

                                                                                  

One of Mel's daily living room naps. With her favorite blanket of course!

                                                                        
                                                                              

Dress options that DON'T work well for us:

A onesie and pants. When a child is in a onesie with pants pulled up over them their tube is super hard to access and it is a struggle all together. We have done a onesie and shorts before and just ran the extension down through the leg of her shorts but it is a pain if you want to remove or reattach the extension! I actually saw a post from another tubie mom recently where she buttoned the onesie OVER her child's pants! Genius!!! This would be a good at home option!!

Just being naked. I have ton of friends and family members that just leave there children in a diaper and let them go. Which is great, its usually hot in Texas and if your child is a messy eater is cuts down on laundry greatly!! Unfortunately Mel is super curious about her button and has started pulling on it every chance she gets! (This makes bath time tricky!) also it would make me nervous since Mel is now crawling all over the place that she could snag her button on something and yank it out or injure herself! But if you like to leave your child unclothed and that works for you more power to you!!!!

Do you like to dress your tubie in anything different? Have you tried any adaptive clothing and fallen in love with it? I would love to know!!

So dress those tubies up, or don't you are the momma and you know best! but always make sure you kiss them goodnight and then go enjoy some wine. You deserve it!

Love until another day,
Shelbi