Great Moments in Nursing 101!

I've been wanting to blog about this for a while now and am just now getting around to it.

I found a pretty decent solution to the spontaneous, and oh-so-annoying, opening of Henry's medicine port on his g-tube, leaking his feed (and sometimes recently administered meds!) all over the place.

First, I surfed the net, of course. I googled "med-port cover" and the likes with no results. Then i went on etsy.com because there are some pretty cool mamas out there with a ton of solutions to help our special needs kiddos. But I still didn't see something. Then i went on eBay and typed in all sorts of words. I initially thought some kind of TUBING could go over it. Then i starting thinking "stretchy"-SOMETHING might be more effective...

Somehow, i stumbled onto these puppies, and a lightbulb went off. And for less than $5 (FREE SHIPPING!), it was a complete no-brainer to try...

Just query the name in eBay - they're ALWAYS being sold!

I'm here to report that we've been using these little blue finger braces for over 6 months. I've not needed to buy more (although i was more than willing to); i simply wet 'em and wash them with handsoap while i'm washing my own hands. Just squeeze 'em out, and let them air dry.

Here i've put together a photo diagram of how AWESOME these little suckers are and how they've really cut back on a ton of "OH !@#$^%%&*(!!!!!" moments when you go over to see how the lil guy is doing. I hated nothing more than to find a wet, soppy, stinky feed-soaked baby. **GRUMBLE**


Left: Showing their 'original' intent - it's a pretty snug fit!
Middle: Here is the end of your g-tube with both feed port (lg) and med port (sm) opened
Right: The finger brace and g-tube, side-by-side (sizing is perfect!)


Left: Insert your index and middle finger and S-T-R-E-T-C-H it open.
Middle: Slide your fingers onto and around the end of the g-tube.
Right: Slide fingers back out and make sure med-port is secure from the outside.


Left: Here's how it looks! All secure and cozy warm! A little SWEATER! :-)
Right: When you need the med-port, simply slide brace back onto tubing.
NOTE: When returning brace back onto med-port, make sure the med-port cap is secure (see diagram above).

Henry Hugginsworth

So there you have it!! I probably have a bonafide invention in the works here... And i don't even feel right "marketing" them from etsy since I've just showed you how cheap they are to get them on eBay. I've thought about sewing little beads and making them 'cute' for etsy, but then you've got the whole washing thing that needs to happen...

Anyhoo. It feels good to have documented this. Cheerio, fellow mama nurse-wannabes! :-)