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Thursday, November 10, 2005

Got Milk?


11/10/05

The nurses finally removed Kaitlyn’s IV today! She is up to 13 cc’s of breast milk every 2 hours (15 cc’s would be ½ an ounce). They are going to “fortify” my milk starting today which will give her more calories – so she can get some weight on her little frame.

Our freezer is about to overflow. Here is a picture from a few days ago. Each of these bottles (if filled to the bottom of the lid) holds 4 ounces of milk. The orange and white lables are "Kaitlyn's" labels for the NICU. Each one has to be labled with her name, her medical record number and the date and time that I pumped. Each preemie has a different colored label. The freezer is even fuller now, as this picture was taken a few days ago. Every day I produce about 10-13 bottles. We have to get a 2nd freezer soon (that’s on Brian’s list of things to do.) And as how "difficult" they are to produce, I'd rather throw away frozen food than my milk!

She’s continuing to do really well, she’s only had a few A & B spells (Apneas and Bradys). We haven’t gotten the results back of her adrenal gland function test yet (to check for her production of cortisone). She’s getting a shot of Epogen (sp?) 3x/week to help increase her red blood cell production.

She weighs about 2.5 pounds now, I can see her cheeks have filled out a bit more and her thighs seem a little bigger to me. It’s hard for us to really see a difference day to day.

I keep crossing my fingers that I will get to hold her soon! I heard one other little “mewing” sound from Kaitlyn yesterday, let’s just say she is still working on her cry.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear things are going well, my hard drive crashed last week and I've been w/o a pc and wondering how you all were doing.

I love the halloween hat, and she'll love to see that when she's older and can't believe that it was hers.
I know how frustrating it can be with people who mean well, but aren't well versed in preemies. Everyone though that the kids had to be 5 lbs to go home too. Anna came home a little under. I still remember her car seat test and how scared I was (the final test before she could come home) if she didn't pass.
Take care- Michelle from Sidelines

Anonymous said...

Hi Liz & Brian!

Wow! So jealous of your freezer! You are flowing in GOLD! Bless you! errr should I say Blessed You Are!LOL!
I haven't checked here in a while and soooo glad to see all the amazing updates and SOO Many photos! So cute! People prob. always say this but, I look at my preemie baby pics and it's like where is that little baby? They REALLY grow soooo fast so enjoy every minute! I know you do-but it's like a flash! "I" can't wait for you to hold her so I can't imagine how you two must be ITCHIN' to hold her and just stare and rock with her!
Aren't those labels a ..bummer! I hated writing all that info over and over...wanted to order preprinted mailing label with medical number and so I would ONLY need to put date& time. You got a nice pattern for Kaitlyn- like 50/50 bar/popsicles!

All the best!
Lisa Haugen

Anonymous said...

Liz, I love the picture of all of your "liquid gold"! You are one up on me...I could only eek out meager amounts of milk! And you being under the pressure and stress you are??! You go girl!!!
Love, Sue

Anonymous said...

Go Milk Momma! Lucky little girl to get the golden liquid. The picture is worth a thousand words, I wish I had taken one of my freezer - I just used the last pumped bottle 2 weeks ago (stored for 2 months) and put away the breast pump - what a glorious day! Now the freezer is filled with frozen food - too tired to cook. All of the pictures and updates are so enjoyable.

It sounds like Kaitlyn is making steady progress now. Many wishes for her continued road towards heading out of the NICU. Also many wishes for peaceful memories of your sweet Corinne.

A little update on baby Kyle, born at 28-5/7 weeks, he is now 4 months old (6 weeks adjusted). Pushing 12 lbs and acting just like his age according to his due date. People always say he is so new and after many conversations of explaining his two birthdays, I don't get tired of sharing his saga. I find there are so many caring people out there and often enough with a preemie story to share - with healthy outcomes. Very reassuring to me and hopefully to you too.

Healthy wishes for you and Kaitlyn
Laurie Abbey