Friday, September 18, 2009

Update (9-18)

Breathing:  Karsie is going to be taken off the nasal cannula on Monday, which means if she handles it, breathing will be something to check off the list for now.  

Feeding:  Karsie has been throwing up about 1-3 times a day according to the nurse practitioner today.  We're getting to the point that we believe she's just going to be a pukey baby especially given the fact that she has her bowels on the outside of her stomach.  We think the plan at this point is to start condensing her feeds starting at 2 hours 45 min (hopefully they stick to this plan).  She is currently getting 24 calories an hour, which means in a 3 hour block, Karsie should be getting 72 calories.  Normal babies will just drink up 72 calories in a single feeding and then need another 72 in 3 hours.  Since Karsie is getting continuous feeds, she is just getting 24 calories an hour.  When we condense her feeding to 2 hours 45 minutes, she will get those 72 calories in that time rather than 3 hours.  The goal is to get her condensing her feedings in a shorter amount of time.   

This weekend Karsie will not be getting the bottle, but getting breast fed two times a day. They increased her calories today by using formula mix as well as rice cereal.

Weight:  She weighed 3.15 kilos last night.  She has gone up by .05 kilos every day for the past few days which is much lower than what she needs to be gaining.  We're hoping for a growth spurt soon.     

Pinky:  Dr. Saenz came in today to look at Karsie's dressing change and said he is continued to be impressed with her skin.  In fact, he said that his work with her is pretty much done for now. In other words (we asked him to clarify this for us, so it's not just our interpretation) according to him, he's about ready to let her go home skin-wise.  So, it looks like we're just waiting on her to eat like a Turner.  We are all praying very hard that she gets over this hump and starts to handle the condensed feedings and starts to take it orally soon.  As soon as she does, we will have a little one at home.