Today our little peanut is 2 lbs 10.4 oz. She gained an entire ounce since yesterday. Hopefully she keeps it up. Soon she will be 3 lbs and closer to coming home. She took a bottle last night for the nurse and tonight Marcus is going to try and give her one at her 7:45 feeding. So far I held her most of the day she tried to nurse twice today. Hopefully she gets the hang of it soon.

Gabrielle was 2 lbs 9.4 oz. I do think all of the noise yesterday affected her wt gain. The doctors are not concerned because she has gained 7 oz in the last week so she averages an ounce per day. They did increase her feedings a little today. She is now getting 25 cc every 3 hours. She is almost up to an ounce per feeding. She took and entire bottle for daddy today.

Today has been another good day. Brie was 2 lbs 9.3 oz. She continues to fidget around in her isollette when she is hungry. Today it was very loud in the NICU so she did alot of moving around, hopefully that will not affect her weight gain. Daddy is going to give her a bottle tonight. She is now allowed to have one every 8 hours. I have decided not to give her the bottles myself at the suggestion of the nurses and to just have her try to nurse before each feeding with me. She seems to get frustrated nursing because it is much more difficult then the bottle, but I am hoping that does not stop her.

Today was another good day for Brie, she took and entire bottle from mom and attempted to nurse twice. She was very alert before her feedings. She continues to gain wt and was 2 lbs 8.5 oz today. Hopefully she will keep up the good weight gain and come home soon. The nurses are going to try giving her a bottle once per shift. She seems to really like to eat so hopefully she will not have a problem with that part of the discharge criteria.

Brie continues to do well and gain wt. She is 2 lbs 7.5 oz today. They increased her feedings to 24 cc today. She had a little left in her tummy a few times today before her feedings but she continues to do well with them. She took an entire bottle today for mommy. After that she was very tired and slept most of the day.

2lb 6.1 oz today, not too far from 2 1/2! Gabrielle took a whole bottle today. That's 21cc or more--over 2/3 of an ounce. Her other feedings are by tube, of course. By the way, thanks for all of the useful gifts received at the shower or at other times. Jen has most of the clothes put away already, organized nicely in the old dresser that we recently refinished. I think she's planning on washing all of them soon, however. The baby looks and acts good. Soon she'll be able to start wearing the preemie clothes that she's been given.

Bottle feeding

Gabrielle is 2 lbs 4.4 oz today. Jen held her today for a few hrs or more as she always does. This is the second weekend in a row that I've been unable (or unwilling) to get too close because of a mild cold. The baby digests all of her food with very minimal stomach residuals, and she looks healthy and less frail than before. Jen will feed her breast milk by bottle tonight--Jen's first opportunity to do this. The nurses were surprised when Gabrielle responded favorably to a bottle recently. The doctors want her to feed by bottle only once daily, however, since the extra work means less energy devoted to growing. She'll continue to receive breast milk by the feeding tube in her nose at three hour intervals for some time. Currently, her mouth is too small to nurse properly other than with a bottle. She sleeps most of the time, as she should, but she becomes very alert when feeding time approaches--opening her eyes to look all around, sucking, kicking, and fidgeting. She's very cute!

I finally got a bottle

Over the last few days our little Brie has been waking up looking for food. I had asked when she would start to get a bottle or be able to nurse the nurse told me that they usually start around 33-34 weeks. Well she is 33 weeks today. Last night she was looking all around right before the feeding. The nurse gave her a bottle and she finished her entire feeding that way. Now she is allowed to take one feeding per day from the bottle or the breast. So today I am going to try and nurse her for the first time. I hope things go well. They also started her on iron suppliments today and increased her feedings to 21 cc. They continue to fortify her feedings to give her more calories. Her weight today was 2 lbs 3.4 oz.

Feeding and Growing

Gabrielle is doing well. Her wt today was 2 lbs 2.8 oz. She is up to eating 19 cc every 3 hours and is doing well with it. She wakes up and starts sucking on her thumb and rooting around in her bed about 15 minutes before it is time to eat. They are also fortifying my breast milk, giving it more calories so that she can gain weight faster. She is now at about 160 kcal/kg which is what babies need to grow and gain weight. They will keep increasing the amount of milk she gets as she grows. The doctors said she will increase by about a cc per day. The average wt gain the doctors said to expect is between 0.5 to 1 oz per day. Tomorrow she will be exactly 3 weeks old and will be 33 weeks gestation. The nurse said tonight that she will talk to the doctor about starting to nurse her. She is getting old enough even though she is so tiny.

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. Gabrielle hit the big 2 lb mark yesterday. She was 2 lb 1.5 oz. They increased her feedings to 16 cc every 3 hours. She has been tolerating them well. In the beginning she still had quite a bit in her belly, but they jumped from 12 cc to 16 all at once. Before they were only going up by 1 cc per day. He breathing has slowed down and I think she likes her new room. It is much quieter in there. This room is a continuing care room and there are only 4 babies in there.
Today her weight was down a little. She was 2 lbs 0.8 oz. I just spoke with the doctor and he said it was because she is not at her maximum nutrition. They are going to add some fortifier to her milk to make it have more calories. If she tolerates that then tomorrow they will go up on the volume and increase the fortifier to get her really gaining weight. It is so much better holding her without all of the IVs and other stuff. Now she just has a few skin probes that measure her heart rate and breathing. Those will be on until she is ready to come home.

Well today Gabrielle is moving to a new section of the NICU. She is moving into one of the "feeding and growing" rooms. They took her off of all of her IVs today and she is getting 13 cc of breast milk every 3 hours. I think she really likes to have a full tummy. She wakes up about an hour before each feeding and sticks her little tongue out and cries until she gets her pacifier. They are going to start fortifying her milk to give it more calories so that she gains weight quicker. Her weight today was 1 lb 15 oz. Hopefully tomorrow she will cross the big 2 lb mark.

Our little princess continues to do well. She had a bit of a rough night last night and had some food left in her little tummy at 9 pm. They held her next feeding for an hour and then she did much better. She has had some problems getting her bowels to move so I think she was a little full. She finally made a nice big present for the nurses and she is tolerating her feedings much better. The doctor told me today if she continues to do well tomorrow they will stop her IV nutrition and even take out her IV. He does not think she even needs the caffeine anymore because she has not forgotten to breathe in over a week. Hopefully soon she will be on just breast milk. Her weight today was 1 lb 15.8 oz. She continues to go up daily. Hopefully tomorrow she will hit 2 lbs. The nurses tell me that she is doing well and will hopefully be able to come home before she hits 4 lbs. I guess we better get to work on the nursery. I know we still have a few more weeks, but Marcus has been working hard to get it done.

Gabrielle continues to go up on her feedings today she is at 8 cc every 3 hours. She continues to tolerate them well. Her weight today was 1lb 14 oz. She is moving in the right direction. The doctor did warn me that once she gets to about 13 cc and they stop the IV nutrition she may loose a little weight. Hopefully that will not happen, but if it does then I am prepared. Other that that she is doing well. Her breathing continues to be a little fast, but she does not seem to get too tired from it. Hopefully she will slow her breathing down so she is not using as much energy to breathe and can focus on growing.

Today was another good day for our little girl. Her weight today was 1 lb 13.2 oz. She has been tolerating her feedings well and has gone up to 6 cc tonight. Hopefully by the weekend she will be at her maximum of 16 cc and we can get rid of the IVs. The IV nutrition is not good for her liver so it is wonderful that they are weening it down as they go up on her feedings. I am not sure when they will start giving her a bottle. She loves to suck on her pacifier so hopefully she will learn quickly how to eat. We spent the day relaxing in the recliner. Gabrielle is so much calmer when I am holding her. It makes me sad to have to put her back in her isolette.

Our little peanut continues to do well. Her weight today was 1 lb 12.8 oz. So we are going in the right direction. The doctors increased her feeds today to 3 cc every 3 hours. She is doing well with them. If she continues to digest this small amount they will keep increasing. For her size she needs about 16 cc every 3 hours to gain wt. That is about half of an ounce. They are moving slowly with the feedings so that she does not get her belly all distended again. She had a lot of air from the cpap and that is slowly moving through. Hopefully by the beginning of next week they will have her up to full feeds and get rid of the IV feedings. She is much more alert now and seems to really respond when Marcus and I are there. She is a night owl and loves to wake up at 10 pm. We are hoping the NICU breaks her of that before she comes home.

Today Gabrielle continues to do well. Her weight is down a little she is 1 lb 11.5 oz. She started a small amount of feeds yesterday. They are planning to increase this today to 2 cc every 3 hours today. Not very much, but I am tiny. Hopefully they can keep increasing this daily so I start gaining weight. Gabrielle has been doing well without her nasal cannula and is breathing completely on her own.

Gabrielle Ann Myers

Gabrielle entered the world a little earlier then expected. Her original due date was May 10th. She decided that March was a better month and entered on March 1st. She was born at just 30 weeks gestation weighing 1 lb 12 oz and is 13 1/3 inches long. She came out screaming and has been fighting ever since.