Lilypie Premature Baby tickers

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Emilia is 1 week old in corrected age





Emilia is 1 week old corrected and 108 days old actual. She is either sleeping or eating all day long. So far not much of interaction with Mommy and Daddy except falling asleep on their chest and crying & screaming when hungry and when she wants to be cuddled. She keeps crying until being picked up and cuddled. As soon as we put her back in the crib, she goes on crying again.

She is becoming to look more and more like a girl. Until about a month ago, she looked like a boy, quite frankly. People still say she looks like her daddy but now I start to see a little bit of me in her face too, especially her lips.

She now weighs 3.6Kg... last few days her weight gain was a bit stalled but on average she's been gaining a healthy amount of weight each day. Her appetite is huge. Sometimes she needs to eat every hour. She's got nipple confusion, big time. She doesn't want to latch on and suck properly when breastfed. She already knows the bottle is much easier, but I have no choice. When she's hungry and I am not there at the hospital, the nurses need to bottle her. When she's crying and I am not there to console her, the nurses need to put a pacifier in her mouth. She's been sucking on soothers since she was 26-7 weeks gestation so I cannot suddenly take it away from her now.

I am going to sleep in the hospital tomorrow and the day after tomorrow to breastfeed her round the clock - just to make sure we are able to do it.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

She's a Newborn Baby Now

Sometimes I forget how little she used to be. She was one of the littlest babies in the NICU. Now she's the biggest one.

Emilia's foot July 23



Emilia's foot September 12

Emilia is 15 weeks old

Yes, she is 15 weeks old. It no longer makes sense to count her age in gestation but the hospital somehow still counts her as "40 weeks and 5 days" baby. I would rather count her as 5 days old in corrected age.

She now weighs over 3.5Kg. She is so heavy that now my wrists hurt so much for holding her all day long. I am going to start using the baby carrier. She no longer fits in preemie size clothes. It wasn't too long ago when even preemie size sleepers were too big for her.

She requires only 15-20 cc/min of oxygen right now, which is a big improvement from last week. The doctors are now considering weaning off oxygen before her discharge.

Sometime this week or next week, I will stay overnight in the hospital and try breastfeeding her around the clock, which they recommend to do before taking the baby home to see if the baby can eat by breastfeeding exclusively. Right now she is breastfed during the day and bottled (with my breastmilk) overnight.

It looks like she will be discharged pretty soon - within next few weeks. The only thing that is keeping us in the hospital is her reflux problem, which doesn't seem to be remedied or alleviated by the meds she's taking.

Yes, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel... but honestly I feel like I am running on a treadmill in the dark tunnel, endlessly running toward the light that is out of my reach. Yes, I do know that this shall too pass but I am frustrated that one third of my maternity leave will have been gone when she comes home.


(Emilia in purple sweater and hat - gift from Judy)