We've been working on getting her to feed, and part of that includes making sure she gets enough food. How do you do that when it's breast feeding? Well - ml converts to grams really well - so for every gram of weight she gains, it's a ml of milk she's drank. So the process of feeding starts with weighting her, then I feed her, then we re-weigh and make up the balance of what she needs for that feed with a bottle or tube feed, depending on how tired she is. She needs about 51 ml per feed.
Yesterday she was feeding REALLY well, and when we re-measured her, she had gained 42 grams! Once you hit 80% they don't top up the feed, but Aria looked to still be hungry - so I continued to feed. She drank 66 ml!! That's INCREDIBLE! Not only did she have a full feed - but she drank 15 more ml than she needed! So she got a gold star from the nurses (literally, there's a gold star on her name board). That evening she fed and ended up with almost exactly 50 ml. She's pretty amazing. Brad & I are very proud of her accomplishments so young in life!
Today we're starting on double feeds. Up until now she's done one bottle/breast, one nose tube, today we're going to try two bottle/breasts in a row. If she keeps being good at that, soon we'll take out that horrid nose tube and 48 hours later...BUT it may take a bit - feeding is tiring for a baby - especially a preemie.
Keep praying - but I'm glad she's doing better. Here's hoping she gets out of the incubator today (if her jaundice levels are low enough that's the next step there). Then she'll be in what they classically call the "tub". Nice.
Love to you all!
4 comments:
Congratulations! I remember before I had kids, I couldn't understand why parents got so excited about such little things.... But after waiting for Matthias to poop, praying, hoping, working, and waiting for him to do it, I sure was ready to celebrate when it happened! So I'm really excited with you for Aria's gold star! I understand what an achievement it is for her, and how much it means to you! Thank God we have a God who answers prayer!
Hoorah for gold stars!!! I knew she would be a take-charge sort of girl. Continuing to pray that Aria makes those strides needed to gain strength and keep growing.
Hooray for Aria! It shouldn't seem like an accomplishment to EAT, but of course it is for a little sweetie like her. Way to go, Aria!
I'm glad she's doing so well, and you too, and of course daddy/ photographer too. We hope Aria can come home soon! Aunt Greta
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