Thursday, January 29, 2009

Eating and Growing

Alexandra is still doing pretty well in her little NICU box. She's off her IV and gets all her nutrition now via formula and breastmilk from my meager supply. Most of it comes via her feeding tube, but she's also started taking a bottle three times a day and usually eats 5-10 ml from it before losing interest. The doctors have been very encouraging about her bottle experiences. She's been steadily gaining weight since losing a few ounces her first week and now weighs more than her birthweight.

We've done a little bit of "Kangaroo Care" (in which the baby is placed skin-to-skin on a parent) and she seemed to really like it -- she usually cries when the nurse takes her away.

The only minor setbacks are some periodic minor "desats" (during which the oxygen saturation of her blood sinks below 88%) -- the doctors say this is totally normal for preemies -- and that she's having a little trouble maintaining her body temperature. The doctors turned down the temp slightly in her isolette to see if she's able to keep herself warm, and it seems like she's having a bit of trouble in that area. Once she can keep herself warm and comes off the feeding tube, she'll be ready to move into a crib in the "step down" room to get ready to come home in maybe four weeks or so.

3 comments:

dcpeg said...

That's such good news. When my nephew was in Children's NICU, I witnessed first-hand the value of skin contact. I know it makes you both feel better, too!

Mary said...

She sounds like a trooper. I can't wait until you can bring her home. I hope you are doing okay yourself. How has it been leaving the hospital and eating real food?

Brenna said...

So, so happy to hear the continued good reports on Lexie! Keep it up, sweet girl--you're doing so well. And mommy, you seem to be holding up pretty darned well yourself, given what I'm sure can be a pretty stressful situation. Kangaroo time sounds divine.