Baby Lauren's weight is now up to 4 lbs, 10.8 oz. She is still on intravenous feedings, but it looks like it won't be too long until she starts using her gut again. Today there was much less drainage from the gastric tube and the fluid that did come up was not the dark green color of bile. She also started to have bowel sounds today, minimal but there nevertheless.
01/19/02 8:15AM:
BABY LAUREN MADE POOPY LAST NIGHT!!! Over the course of the night, Lauren passed what the nurse described as "two large brown stools." She said there was some old blood mixed in there, probably from the surgery. Daddy is very proud and wishes he could have been there to change her diaper... Dr. Bufo came by this morning and said everything looks good. The nurse said Lauren still has minimal bowel sounds.
01/19/02 11:00PM:
Lauren now weighs 4 lbs, 13.4 oz. She is still on intravenous feedings and they have upped the rate from 12.5 cc/hr to 15 cc/hr. Lauren now has better bowel sounds and the gastric tube now has such a small amout of drainage that they took it off suction and left it open to see if more fluid drains on its own. She continues to pass small amounts of stool and looks like she is not in much distress. Mommy and Daddy are very proud...
01/20/02 9:00PM:
Baby Lauren's weight today was up 4 lbs, 15 oz. One more ounce and we'll have a "five-pounder." There was no significant drainage from the gastric tube overnight, so they took the tube out and tried to bottle feed her. She drank it up, but it came right back out, so they are going to leave her N.P.O. overnight and will try the oral feeds again tomorrow. The neonatologist says that once she is back up to full feeds and if she is tolerating them well it will only be a few days until she can go home. We can't wait....
01/21/02 11:50PM:
Well, Lauren was able to keep the bottle feeding down without getting sick to her stomach. She had much more gas than before and had to be burped several times. She drank and kept down 35 cc's of formula. Her weight is up to 4 lbs, 15.8 oz. The nurse said that if everything goes well we might just have her home by the end of the week. WOW!!! It's overwhelming to think of having her at home after all that she's been through. We have her room ready for her and Daddy already got her a car seat for the ride home.
01/22/02 11:45PM:
Lauren is now on bottle feeds only since they discontinued the intravenous feedings last night. She eats well but sometimes does not keep it all in. She is drinking up to 60 cc's per feeding. Her weigh dropped to 4 lbs, 11 oz, but they expect that to come back up as she gets used to the feeds. The discharge planner for the NICU called our home today and advised us the time is approaching when Lauren will be discharged home. One of the neonatologists mentioned the possibility of discharge within 72 hrs. It looks like Baby Lauren will be sleeping in her crib at home sooner that we anticipated. Hopefully she will begin to gain weight again soon.....
01/23/02 11:00PM:
Baby Lauren is drinking more formula now and is getting up to 60 cc's at a time, but is still having some problems keeping it all down. Her weight is up a little to 4 lbs, 12 oz. They are sure she will do fine and say we'll probably have her home by this weekend. Mommy asked one of the neonatologists whether she would be coming home on an apnea monitor and he stated that he saw no need for one since she has not had any periods of apnea or bradycardia in months, but he said that if we felt more at ease with one at home he would send her home with one.
01/24/02 11:45PM:
Baby Lauren is up to 4 lbs, 13 oz now, and is now drinking up to 70 cc's at a time. She is still bringing some of it back up, but less than before. She is also waking up almost 1 hr before the next feeding is due, wanting to be fed again. They say she'll go home Sunday.