Morgan Kate

Morgan Kate entered the world weighing one pound and twelve ounces and today she weighed in at twelve pounds and one ounce. I personally thought it was kind of neat.

Our appointment with Dr. G, our pediatrician, went very well and we talked about quite a lot. I had my list of questions ready the minute she walked in. My two biggest concerns were Morgan Kate's eating and her breathing. 

Eating

I have posted about Morgan Kate's eating numerous times, but it continues to be a concern of mine. Matter of fact, a very large concern. I have ready blog after blog about preemies and it seems like a good many preemies have issues with eating. 

The other night we tried letting Morgan Kate sleep through the night without waking her up to eat. She woke up around 1am on her own so we went ahead and fed her. When she woke up at one she wasn't crying or anything. She was just making noises and was wide awake. After she ate she went back to sleep and slept until almost nine. I was shocked that she slept so long and figured that she would be starving. Nope. Not one bit. When I tried feeding her at nine it was quite a battle. She just wasn't interested. 

There are times when she doesn't want anything to do with the bottle and other times when she takes it like a champ. I realize that there may be times when she isn't hungry, but we cannot sacrifice any ounces. She has gained exactly a pound since our visit a month ago. Seems great, right? Not really. Babies typically gain anywhere from a half ounce to an ounce a day. If that were the case with Morgan Kate then she should have gained two pounds at least. She is still not on the growth chart for her actual age and has plateaued for her adjusted age. Dr. G and our gastro doctor would like to see her taking between 20 and 24 ounces a day. 

With all that being said we have decided to try a NEW formula. I know. I am scared to death. I am so scared we are going to mess something up. But I know we have to eventually try it. She has been taking Neocate. The pricey formula. It's good for her because it helps with digestion. Many preemies have immature digestive systems and this formula helps. We are hoping that her digestive system has matured some and we can try another formula. One that tastes a little better. We are now trying Enfamil Gentleease Lipil. At 5 this afternoon she took almost 4 ounces and at 8pm she took almost three and a half. I am just praying that this continues and that the new formula doesn't bother her stomach. Most of all I just want her to be healthy and to grow, grow, grow.

Breathing

Morgan Kate's breathing sounds great. Dr. G said it herself. I'm not concerned about how it sounds. My concern is how out of breath she gets doing things. Whenever she is eating she gets so out of breath. Whenever we try tummy time she gets short of breath. Whenever we trying sitting up she gets short of breath. It breaks my heart because she seems to be working so hard. I mentioned this to Dr. G today and she noticed it as well. 

MK's shortness of breath is due to her chronic lung disease and it will get better with time. One way we can hopefully help her is by giving her breathing treatments twice a day. Now we tried an inhaled steroid back in January and it was a disaster. This is a completely different steroid and we will give it to her through a nebulizer. So it's very different from the one we used in January. I have made the executive decision not to start the treatments until Friday. I want to make sure that the formula is going to work first. If all goes well with that, then we will move to the breathing treatments. I am not about to start both at one time. If something were to go wrong and we were doing both then I wouldn't know which one was really causing the problem. So we will try the new formula until Friday and then start with the breathing treatments. Again, I am praying that all goes well and that MK continues to stay healthy. 

Needless to say, our appointment was very informative. I am a little stressed out and overwhelmed at the moment, but I know that it will pass. To me it just seems like a lot of new stuff at one time and it to be perfectly honest, it scares me. I don't want to revert to where we were before and I definitely don't want to mess up what we have going. I also want MK's breathing to be easier and I want her to actually like eating and want to eat. 

So please pray specifically for those two things....eating and breathing. 

On a very bright note...Dr. G said it would be fine for us to start getting out some. We now have the big okay from her pediatrician and the pulmonologist. So we are going to start taking baby steps and get out a little. It's so funny - we have gotten the okay and I'm still so nervous. I still hesitate to take her anywhere. But I know we will, it may just take some time.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Julie, our early interventionist, came this morning and MK got quite the workout. She worked a lot on rolling over and sitting up. MK can roll from her tummy to back, but she can't quite get back to tummy. She can roll on her side, but then gets stuck. MK did a super job today and worked really hard. I was very proud of her! 

Friday at 3 her physical therapist will be coming to do an evaluation and talk with us. After the evaluation the PT will write a plan based on what MK needs.