Babies are good for three things ...
Eating -- Sleeping -- Pooping
And so, as Charlotte meets the milestone of being two weeks old, here's my ESP Report.
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Birth Weight: 4 pounds 9 ounces
Current Weight: 5 pounds 5 ounces
As of Monday, when she was 12 days old, my little nugget has gained 12 ounces ... and I figure that's an ounce a day!
Length: a little over 17 inches
Overall Growth Percentile (based on gestational age): still hovering between the 3rd and 5th percentile
Disposition: calm, patient, mellow
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Eating - Because of her small size, most of the decisions about CJ's nutrition have been made by the NICU doctor and her pediatrician. She's been - primarily - bottle-fed on a schedule; first formula and then breastmilk fortified with small amounts of calorie powder. This means that every three hours, she gets a bottle of about an ounce to two ounces of breastmilk. After she's fed, her immature digestive system requires that she be held upright for about 30 minutes - or risk a traumatic spit-up-choking episode, which happened four times at the hospital ... and CJ stopped breathing all four times - yeah, no thanks.
And since the breastmilk is supplied by my hardworking "girls," I have to sit and pump for 15 to 20 minutes. Including time to clean the pumping accessories, this process takes about an hour and a half. Thankfully I've had help from the grandmas because this schedule was quickly becoming a huge source of frustration and exhaustion for me. And I'll let you in on a little secret ... I detest pumping.
After Monday's weigh-in and Charlotte's continued progress, the decision was made to start getting serious about getting her to nurse on a regular basis. You can visualize a little happy dance right about here. Now every other feeding is a calming, relaxing, all-natural nursing session ... no pumping required! We are two full days into this new schedule, and I must say that I am a much happier mama ... and most importantly, Charlotte is doing great ... her latch could use some improvement, but she continues to be flexible and calm and amazing!
Sleeping - As with most pre-term babies, Charlotte sleeps ... a lot ... and she sleeps just about anywhere. If she had her way, she'd probably prefer to be held while snoozing. And since maintaining her own body temperature continues to be tough (with so little body fat) and to burn lots of calories, the grandmas and I have been happy to oblige her. At night she sleeps in a bassinet right next to my bed, and love having her so close.
It is very rare to hear her cry, but this little girl is a noisy sleeper ... she grunts, honks, (like a goose, not a car) squeaks, beeps, and sighs ... all the time. I certainly don't remember NHV being this noisy! I am very tempted to record what she sounds like because it is just so darn funny! Thankfully I am getting to know her noises ... which ones I can ignore and which ones require me to check on her.
Pooping - I am sure this falls under the TMI category, so I will spare you the gory details ... but this little girl doesn't have a problem with making the poopies (unfortunately, her big sister suffers that infliction). With that said, we've only had one blow-out ... and it was more of a diaper malfunction than a quantity issue. Sidenote: Preemie diapers are a complete rip-off. They are essentially the same size as a Newborn diaper - maybe a few millimeters difference, but they cost twice as much ... about 30 cents each!
11 comments:
I can't believe she is already two weeks old. It sounds like she is growing like a champion. I'm relieved to hear that you don't have to do that much pumping anymore...what a pain and so much more challenging with a toddler to look after. We will be by to visit after Christmas comes and goes.
Glad things are going well for you girls! If you want/need an extra set of pumping tubes, Overlake has them pretty afordable.
E was a very noisy newborn too! Mellow, but all sorts of snorty/honky/wheezy/animal. :) At 4 months, it's mellowed out a bit! Maybe for CJ too?
Great ESP report! SO very glad CJ is growing like a weed. That was something that Sam did not do so well.....hence at almost 2 1/2 she's in that 3-5% category..still.
Congrats on your new baby girl! I am so glad everything is going well (except for your loathe of the pump). I actually exclusively pumped for six months so I know how tiring all the cleaning, etc can get...I think that's why I ultimately stopped, along with moving cross country! Since I did so much pumping I actually bought a hospital grade breast pump (Ameda Elite) which are about $800-$900 but I got mine on eBay for much less. In any case, it never took more than 10 minutes to completely empty my girls and I had two sets of accessories so I could have some soaking in the sink and some drying on the counter and there was always one set ready for the next round. Just some tips if you need them to help pumping a little less pain in the butt. But if the doctor's start letting you nurse all the time, you probably won't need to use the pump much any way. Congrats again, she is so adorable and you look like your'e doing amazing!
Laura H. (Caitlyn's mommy)
Glad to hear such a great report for sweet little CJV! :) Bummed I missed your call. I will try to call you today! Glad the grandmas have been such a great help to you!
Great report!
She's growing!
You're doing a great job with all the pumping! I breastfed my kids, but always said that if I had had to pump, they would have been out of luck.
So happy things are going well - keep the pictures coming, she's just too sweet! xo
Two weeks already! Im glad to hear she is doing great!
Pumping...blech. But should you ever need or choose to do it again, get those microwave sterilizer bags that Medela makes. You just rinse the parts, pop them into the bag, and they come out clean in a few minutes. Let them dry off and they're good to go for the next time, including the tubes! No need for the process to be that time-consuming when it's already annoying.
Hope CJV continues to be laidback even after she she officially stops being a preemie! :-)
P.S. I think newborns are also good for snuggling! I remember that part of the first month very fondly with SP snuggled up on my chest in his little frog pose.
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