Week Five

Dan had a weight check with Dr Q today. We also saw one of the residents we met in the NICU. He was very pleased to see how big Dan has gotten and all the progress we've made!

First things first, we have success! Our goal when leaving the NICU was to average a weight gain of 25 - 30 grams per day. At the first weight check Dan had gained 210 grams, but that was only 15 grams per day, so we fell pretty short of our goal. At that point we were trying to breast feed as much as possible and give just 4 bottles of formula a day. After that weight check we went home with instructions to up his formula intake. Dr Q is very supportive of breastfeeding and she was thrilled that Dan is actually able to nurse (many NICU babies never get the hang of it). However, the most important thing is that Dan gain weight and grow. The more he gains, the bigger he gets, the bigger his lungs get, the less lung disease he'll have. Our big goal is to fatten him up as much as we can before RSV season hits. It's a little Game of Thrones around here lately.. Winter is coming! But it's not here yet, thankfully.

So, we went home and added more bottles. We're at a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to breastfeeding. My pregnancy was cut short, then things got pretty stressful, I wasn't able to nurse right away (for months, actually) or even hold Dan for quite a while. Those things don't bode well for successful breastfeeding. But with the help of some medications, lots of pumping, skin to skin time with Dan and nursing as much as possible I've been able to up my breast milk supply quite a bit. Unfortunately, it's still not enough for Dan, and there isn't much more that I can do to make it better. So we've switched to giving Dan formula for all of his feedings for the bulk of his nutrition. I still nurse Dan before almost every feeding, and at different times during the day. It's a great way to calm him down when he's upset, and a good way for us to bond. While it's upsetting that I can't breastfeed him exclusively, the most important thing is for him to be healthy and well fed. I'm going to continue to nurse him as much as I can, and know that any breast milk that he gets is a good thing, full of antibodies and immunities.

So two weeks of increasing formula and..... (drum roll please)..... he gained! He gained a lot! Dan gained 44 grams/day for a total of 4.30 kg. That's 9 lbs 7 and a half ounces! He's almost 8 lbs above his birth weight! Yay!

Now that we're not exclusively breastfeeding we can try to get Dan on more of a schedule. Which will be a good thing because our schedule is still all over the place! Some days Dan has great, predictable periods where he's awake, feeds and sleeps. It's fabulous. He spent two nights sleeping in back to back four hour stretches. Glorious! Then we have days where he's pretty cranky all the livelong day and doesn't sleep at all. Yesterday he slept for 45 minutes from sunup to sundown. Days like that are trying for everyone. So hopefully this new feeding schedule will put us all back on track and there will be sleep and peace in the land once again!

We had a lovely visit from my mom last week! She came down to visit and Dan was smitten. Like any good grandchild he behaved for Grammie far better than he does for Mom & Dad. We're talking naps, easy feedings, and burping! Daniel is not a fan of burping and will do anything possible to not burp, but he'll do anything for Grammie! Consequently he has refused to burp since, which has made for some painful feedings.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, my phone was acting wonky so I wasn't able to capture that sweet face very often.

Happy Fourth of July!
- Jen