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Baby in NICU born just shy of 28 weeks


TheRainbow

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It's one step forward, and two steps back. I have done every suggestion about making changes into my diet. I have cut out dairy, sugar, tomatoes, and other acidic food. There is no change. In all these changes, my breast milk has dropped. So now I have upped my water intake from 8 cups to 12 cups and adding two other pumping sessions in there. She only gained 1/2 oz in the past two days.

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At least she has gained and not lost. Please stop being so hard on yourself. She’s a tiny little baby under tremendous stress.

 

Don’t let the professionals lead you to believe it’s not good enough either. It’s progress. And that in itself is indeed good enough.

 

Other than restricting yourself to a white bread diet it sounds like, how are you holding up?

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At least she has gained and not lost. Please stop being so hard on yourself. She’s a tiny little baby under tremendous stress.

 

Don’t let the professionals lead you to believe it’s not good enough either. It’s progress. And that in itself is indeed good enough.

 

Other than restricting yourself to a white bread diet it sounds like, how are you holding up?

 

I have an appointment tomorrow to talk about getting on anti-depressants. I've been really really depressed. I haven't been myself. My husband really notices it, and says I'm similar to when I was after my first was born and the postpartum depression went undiagnosed for a year.

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She's 32 weeks 4 days gestation and just over a month old. I was talking to early this morning. She turned her head when I called her name. They lowered the temperature on the isolette, so she is starting to self-regulate which is a good thing. Still issues with feeding, so they are adding more calories to the breast milk so her weight gain has been a steady 1/2 ounce a day for the past three days. The goal is to get up to one ounce by 35 weeks. She is still at 20ml. They say that the big feeding milestone is 30ml every 2 hours, then if she can handle that for a good week, then we can try feed on demand.

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I haven't been myself.

 

I’m so sorry I hadn’t seen this sooner. Are you feeling any better since you saw your doc?

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Hang in there, OP. My twins were born preemie and spent almost 2 months in the NICU. It's very easy to get obsessed in the moment when it becomes your whole world. It gets to the point where the sounds of a NICU become an ingrained part of your life. Days seem like years and any minor hiccup becomes cause for concern.

 

BUT, there is an "other side" to the story. There's an entire post-NICU story to be written and in a few years you'll think back on this time in a very different way. For me, it's a fog, like I could hardly believed that was my life, it must have been someone else's.

 

Pace yourself through this.

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She's been having a steady weight gain. She is now 3 pounds 7 oz. They lowered the temperature on the isolette. She has a lot of routine checkup tomorrow, so they are postponing her next increase for another day. While I would have loved to try an increase so we could have gotten closer to her feeding goals, but I've been happy with her improvement.

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I hope I don't have the start of the flu. I've been feeling under the weather, which I'm hoping is just from the lack of sleep. I am going to sleep in tomorrow, and hopefully, I feel better otherwise I won't be able to see my daughter in the NICU.

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I hope I don't have the start of the flu. I've been feeling under the weather, which I'm hoping is just from the lack of sleep. I am going to sleep in tomorrow, and hopefully, I feel better otherwise I won't be able to see my daughter in the NICU.

 

No, as hard as it is, you do not want to go to the NICU if you are not well.

 

I hope all goes well with the check. It sounds like she is making good progress.

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Good to see your taking care of yourself. You have been under a lot of stress and extra sleep will be good. It's ok to take a day off from the hospital. Wishing you peace.

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I did see her for a quick visit before leaving the hospital after my tubal ligation surgery. I ended up taking a day to myself the day before, to catch up on sleep and to finish preparing some decorations for my daughter's party this weekend (two birthdays in one-month eesh). She is doing really well. She weighs 3 pounds 9 oz. 26ml every 2 hours. If I'm feeling better later this afternoon, I'll go in to see her. My husband goes back to work on Monday, after taking six weeks off.

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She is 34 weeks adjust age. She is 3 pounds 10 oz. She is taking 28ml every 2 hours. On Sunday she'll be on 30ml every 2 hours. They have attempted a few times to try her on the bottle, but as expected she doesn't have the sucking motion yet. They are going to try again on Wednesday. On Thursday next week, they are going to try feeding on demand (assuming on Wednesday she tries to take from the bottle). They are lowering the temperature in the isolette so, in the next week or two, she should be moved to an open crib. She is weaning off the CPap.

 

The goals now are, for her to reach at least 4 pounds, eat on demand and from a bottle, being able to self-regulate her temperature and be breathing on her own. They estimate if she keeps on this path she should be ready to go home 3 to 4 weeks. So it's good to know that there is an end in sight.

Edited by TheRainbow
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She is 3 pounds 11 oz. Her weight has slowed down a bit. The on-call doctor last night upped her feeding to 32ml every 2 hours, and the doctor making his rounds this morning increased it to 34ml which was against the original plan. This morning, I got to try feeding her with a bottle. She is starting to get the sucking motion. She took a bit. So there progress. My husband went back to work, so I won't be able to get up here as much as I'd like. I also had to squeeze in another fifteen minute pumping session to keep up with demand. We have a small freezer stash.

Edited by TheRainbow
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She took 10 - 15ml of every bottle today. Her dad got to feed her the bottle for the first time. He was all smiles :) Warmed my heart. In the next few days, I hope she can finish a whole bottle without a feeding tube. On the bright side, tomorrow if she can maintain her temperature, she will be moved to an open crib. She weighed 3 pounds 13 oz. So only 3 oz away from the mininum four pounds she needs to be to be released.

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So glad to hear she’s doing so well! I just now saw your thread so had no idea this was happening. She seems to be steadily progressing.

 

I’m curious, you mentioned taking anti-depressants. Can you really do that if the breast milk is going to be used for the baby?

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