Just doing so-so

Unfortunately, not all posts can be all good news. Its not "bad" news though. Bennett's weight gain has really slowed significantly over the last week. Last week he lost 2.5 ounces and although he has gained it back, he has only been gaining 5 grams (thats less than 1/6 of an ounce) a day thus far this week. I was very upset when his doctor told me this morning that he has fallen off the growth chart for his weight. But, they reassure me that this sort of set back is rather common in preemies and to try not to worry. Ha!! At least he is gaining now instead of losing. They increased his feeding amount today to 32 mls and they will probably increase his calories tomorrow to 28 calories per ounce.

The other "blah" issue is his 02 requirements. Sometimes he saturates very high on room air and other times he has periods where he needs up to 30%. That still isn't a "lot" but its causing some raised eyebrows with his doc and nurses. He got a chest x-ray today which looked "normal" - which means it didn't show anything they didn't expect. He still exhibits signs of chronic lung disease, but no changes. They started him on a diuretic regardless to help get rid of any fluid that may be building up around his lungs (although there was none showing on the x-ray), hoping that will help. Unfortunately, the diuretic will probably cause him to lose some water weight. But they will give him a few more days and see if his 02 needs creep up anymore, and if it does, they may put him back on CPAP. I'm REALLY hoping we don't have to go back to that. That would stall so much of the progress we've been making.

But the GOOD news is that his doc said we can start trying to nurse on Friday! It will be just a once a day thing at first to see if he is mature enough to coordinate the breathe/suck/swallow trifecta and doesn't get too worn out or stressed (with bradys and desats) while trying to nipple. At least that is a step in the right direction toward the goal of taking all feedings from breast or bottle! I'm not sure when they will start trying him on the bottle. Because he is so darn small, we will have to give him several feedings a day from the bottle regardless for a while after we go home because he needs the fortifier that we add in.