Karsie did not throw up much more today. She did a little bit this afternoon after oral feeding time, but none after that. However, Laura, the NICU dietician, came by and worked with us on a plan to supplement Michelle's breast milk as Karsie is not gaining weight. Her length is great (a bit long) and her head circumference is okay (a bit small) but she is not getting heavier. This is probably due to a ton of reasons, but mostly we think she isn't getting enough nutrition with the breast milk. For most babies, breast milk is all that is needed. It contains everything a baby needs. However, Karsie's situation is a bit different as she was a preemie and also because she has Pinky.
Pinky takes up a lot of calories and energy to fix, so the dietician thinks that supplementing with a tiny bit of rice cereal will help. This should help a bit with her weight, but it also could help with her reflux as it can settle the stomach a bit more than the milk as it is heavier than the milk. The other reason that she might be losing weight is that she is not getting all of the nutrients as she has to feed through the tube, so some of that value is lost before it even gets to her. Laura did say that she thinks we're right around the corner from getting to where we need to be, but she is concerned about the weight until it goes up.
Dr. Saenz came by today and told the nurse to keep the dressing on until he could come by and look at it tomorrow. So far everyone has been very impressed with Pinky's growth. We haven't seen it in about a week, so when we can see it we'll try to take a picture. Hopefully we'll be in when Dr. Saenz comes by.
Finally, we happened to be in there when a doctor named Dr. Hilfiker came in with another patient being admitted. This is significant because she was the surgeon who repaired Karsie's umbilical vessels when she was bleeding out at birth, thus saving her life. We haven't been able to thank her personally yet, but until then, we appreciate everything that you have done for our daughter. Thank you!
