Thursday, January 19, 2012

Hungry Eyes

The last few days have been a whirlwind of good news!!  

For the last few days, the doctors have been steadily increasing Lennon's milk intake by 3 ml/ day.  She is maxed out at 21 ml per day.  That is a tiny amount, but to Lennon's tiny little tummy, it is like eating Thanksgiving dinner 8 times a day.  


Lennon no longer has an IV, so she is able to wear clothes.  She looks so cute in her little nightgown!  We are washing her clothes to get them ready for her.  Can't wait to see her in her cute little dresses :)


**Boys beware... this next part is about breastfeeding!**
Yesterday, we tried "lick and learn." (Get your mind out of the gutter!!)  It is a way for Lennon to familiarize herself with the breast in hopes of learning to breast feed.  Lennon did great!  She has been rooting for a few days, but I never would have guessed that she would be so quick to catch on.  She immediately started trying to latch on, but let's be honest...she has a tiny mouth.  Latching on may not happen for quite a while.  She did taste some of the milk, but was not quite sure what to do with it.  We tried for about 10-15 minutes.  We stopped because Lennon was focusing on eating and was forgetting to breathe.  This is not abnormal since the suck, swallow, and breathe process is hard to coordinate.  

Today, we went to see Lennon for her 2:30 feeding and she was back on the nasal candula to help with her oxygen intake.  The doctor said her desats could be for a couple of reasons:  acid reflux or due to filling her belly so full during each feeding.  They are ruling out the idea of infection, but we won't know for sure until tomorrow.  They did a blood panel the other day because Lennon was having trouble keeping her temp up.  The blood panel was completely normal.  The doctor does not think that it is an infection, but she wants to rule it out to be on the safe side.  

We just take it day by day... but she continues to make great progress and we are getting closer to coming home!!

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