Day 19 - September 1, 2014
Today is Labor Day so we have a bonus visiting day to spend with LoLa. I have big plans to go back to bed after my 5:30 am pump and visit LoLa at noon and again in the evening. Regular updates have centered more recently around how many CC's she is taking from the bottle and the balancing act of gradually increasing her feeds while managing her reflux. Because she regurgitates and has discomfort with this, the refluxing is associated with an apneic event. Since she can't breathe while burping up her lunch, her heart rate and respiratory rate drop, causing her oxygen saturation to drop. The nurses carefully watch for belly distention, measuring her abdominal girth and feeling if it is soft. They discovered very early on that she digests much better lying on her belly.
We are doing weighted feeds because she is progressing well with her nursing coordination, but not so much with her endurance. She transfers 15 CCs sometimes! She is also taking larger quantities from the bottle. Because she's doing well with feeds, she gains weight steadily and has broken the four-pound mark as of today!
These progressions are very important steps that bring us closer to discharge.
Bottles I recommend: