Weight Gain

Yesterday Liam gained 8 grams - that's about the weight of two nickles. Today he gained another 7 grams, for a total weight gain of half an ounce total. It doesn't seem like much at least he is going up! (from his nadir at 5 pounds 4 ounces).

Liam is now getting 45 ml per feed, the max that he needs until his weight significantly increases. Last night he was able to completely "nipple" (bottle feed) four out of five of his feedings and only needed "gavage" (tube) feeding once. Liam has to be able to do 100% of his feedings by himself and be gaining weight for at least two full days (probably even three) before he gets to come home with us. Plus, they want to make sure he learns how to breast feed and not just eat from the bottle. This is a high priority for me too, because I am already quite sick of pumpimg and I have only been doing it for a week!

Despite Liam's great progress, things have been a bit more hectic for us since I was dischrarged from the hospital on Thursday. Not only do we have a two year old and a preemie newborn to parent, but we have to do it in two different locations! Fortunately, Salem Hospital has boarding room for parents of NICU kids, so Mac has been able to sleep at the hospital, making it much easier to attend Liam's 8pm, 11pm, and 8 am feedings. We've told ourselves that even the best of parents are allowed to miss the 2 am and 5 am feedings. The NICU nurses seem to be in agreement with this plan and are not only wonderful with Liam but have been very supportive to us as well.

Liam will be in the NICU longer than the original projection of a week; however, we are hoping to bring him home by the middle of next week. We are keeping our fingers crossed!