Addy has a central line. She has had one since birth because she is not yet able to eat enough enterally to sustain life. We're working really hard on that, but we're not there yet, so she has a central line for intravenous nutrition - TPN - parenteral nutrition. The TPN is administered through the central line which is tunneled in her chest to a large vein above her heart. That is what's on Addy's chest in the pictures below - one from July (Baby Addy - 8 months old) and another from February (Big Girl Addy - 15 months old):
Central lines are associated with a high risk of bloodstream infection, so using sterile technique and being ultra-germophobic around Addy is essential. Thankfully, she has never had a line infection, and I am praying we keep it that way. Bathing Addy is one of those things I never did because I was always scared of non-sterile bath/tap water getting into the line or the insertion site.... but with time and experience (and great advice from other parents in the Short Gut Syndrome Families' Support Group), I've learned ways to protect the line and site and keep it all safe and dry.
I've been thinking about it for some time but was still too chicken... until today, when Addy puked... and I finally said forget the freaking sponge bath-- she is getting too big for the bathroom countertop-- this kid needs a REAL bath-- ...so I wrapped and taped up her line with special medical dressings (Parafilm & Tegaderm IV Advance because I was scrambling to clean pukey baby and had no Aquaguard on hand), put her in the baby tub with some bubbles, and for the first time in her whole 16 months of life, gave her a real bath!!! ...and got the cutest. pictures. ever. :D
(and then changed her cap and dressing after bath and replaced her NG tube and then did a bunch of pukey laundry too)
So easy and so much fun-- we will be doing this on a regular basis from now on.
Post from March 23 - Bath Time...Round 2!
On this epidsode of... oh nevermind...
I got brave enough to give Addy another bath last weekend, and it turned out even better than the first. I even skipped the baby tub and used a whole lot more water than the first time around. She took out her NG and spilled Elecare all over and then had an epic poopsplosion, so the sweet little baby tub with the cute bubbles and toys was not an option this time. The kid needed soap and water and a whole lot of both. I taped her up with Aquaguard and Tegaderm and used a great tip from another mom in the Short Gut Syndrome Families' Support Group to place a tissue over the line dressing and under the Aquaguard/Tegaderm cover as an indicator of any moisture that might have made its way through. Worked like a charm!
Now if I could just figure out how to keep Addy from screaming during the entire bath... in case the pictures don't make it obvious enough, she was... really mad.
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