Fighting Sleep

Quick update:  Karsie's an eating machine lately on the breast.  She took about 50 mL this evening, which is only about 20 below her total she needs.  If she keeps this up she won't need her feeding tube long.  She didn't have any spitups tonight, so we're hoping that translates into weight gain tonight.  She's been very happy for Daddy this weekend.  He will miss her tons after he has to go back Sunday morning.  One day at a time.

Some Good Some Bad

Let's start with the bad news:  Karsie lost weight last night.  After two really good gaining days, she lost a good 45 grams.  Hopefully she will just gain like 70 tonight and we'll be back on track, but unfortunately this seems to be her trend.  We have a couple theories on this.  First of all, she could just be needing more calories per ounce to manage her amazing skin growth.  She is tolerating the 25 cal/oz much better this time, so we hope if she has to go up that she will do okay.  We also think there's a possibility that the 25 cals is too nutrient dense and there's a possibility it's just going right through her and she's not getting as much.  In other words the two days of good weight gain were residual from the 24 cal/oz and now her body isn't getting what it needs.  This is less likely, but we wonder.  The plan is to give her a couple days of watching and then reevaluate.  We're a little bummed about all of this as it was looking like home was just around the corner, but there's good news to go with all of this.

Good news:  Let's start with her oral feeding.  In the past few days Karsie has really picked it up with the amount of food she takes orally.  She took about 50 mL from Michelle's breast last night and 45 mL from the bottle from Ruth.  Her average we would say has been about 15-20, but in the past couple weeks she has probably averaged in the 30's with some days being like yesterday when she is eating much more.  We still need her to gain weight, but this could mean a much shorter time on the ng tube.  

Moving on with the good news.  Pinky looks awesome!  We've talked about her skin growth (which is also probably a cause for her lack of weight gain) and how it's thickening and getting to the point where it will be completely skin soon, but we have not said that it is getting a bit smaller.  Her body seems to be accepting her organs, and while it has not been confirmed by a professional, we have noticed a significant loss in Pinky's height.  Her organs are moving and changing its shape, almost daily, but it really seems to be decreasing in size.  We've started to measure it, so when we get a few weeks in we'll have some good data to put on here.

Developmentally, Karsie is doing so well.  She is getting so good at smiling lately, which is right in the zone for her gestational age.  Also, she is moving her head all around, she's showing neck strength, she moves her arms and legs around, she focuses...lots of good things all around.  

Now...let's get growing girl!!!  It's time to come home!

Smiles!

Karsie has been having a string of good days...knock on wood. She has gained another 30 grams today and we're hoping, as there has been little spitups, that she continues that trend. We'll know more about that tomorrow afternoon.

We are very excited to find that she is now smiling AT us. She is quite the little playful thing. Keep praying for growth!