Saturday, May 3, 2008

Baby steps

Well, the good news is...she did not lose weight from yesterday.

The bad news is...she only gained about a half an ounce, not as much as the doctor would have liked to see.

Today we will add some calories to the breast milk she is getting in the bottle and go from there. What we are looking for is a more substantial gain tomorrow. Like I said before, it is good she did not lose. Just maintaining weight takes calories so we are hoping that is a good sign that her body is processing the calories. The real concern is that she has a rare metabolic disorder in which her body can not process the calories and absorb them. That fact that she did not lose is good and makes us feel better about the metabolic disorder, it is not entirely ruled out yet. There was blood work sent to Baylor Medical Center that takes a couple of weeks and they are analyzing her blood for that. If she gains in the hospital it will rule that possibility out as well.

So today we feed and wait. The scales don't lie, now that they are using the same one.

If we have adequate weight gain tomorrow, there is a chance we could go home Monday if the trend continues.

If we are at the same place tomorrow she will be put on feeding tube where the food will go directly into her stomach. We are hoping this will not be necessary if she beefs up today.

I must admit, I am discouraged. I miss the big kids. I miss home. I miss my normal life.

Please continue to pray for her to gain weight and strength.

Some good news is my milk supply is slowly increasing, keep praying that I can supernaturally produce milk. She loves the breast milk and gobbles it down much faster than the formula.

Well, I am off to pump.

There should not be much else to report today, I may even try to post some pictures if I can.

Adam is threatening to take away my MacBook if I don't get enough rest. You know how I feel about that.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Charlotte,
I am praying, praying for you all...
Have you taken any fenugreek for your milk supply? It has really worked for me in the past...and that mother's milk tea.
Love you,
Kim

Kristen said...

Thinking of you....I'll have to tell you the story of my third baby born last year, 7.5 weeks too early. This was our biggest hurdle. We weighed her every night at the hospital (one of us always tried to be there and the other with the big kids). Such a roller coaster. Praying for you.