HAPPY TURKEY DAY! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I don't know about you, but I am so ready for the Christmas season this year! Last year I was stuck on bed rest and was not in the Christmas spirit.We had a quiet Thanksgiving. We normally have my sisters, Greg, and the dogs down for the long weekend. This year there were going to be two newbies! But, we decided it would be best if we canceled to keep Ailyn healthy. We missed you guys!!! Thanksgiving wasn't the same. Next year for sure!
Ailyn had an appointment with the pulmonary doctor. She was very happy with Ailyn's 2 pound weight gain since she last saw her. Her lungs sounded great and I got a huge pat on the back for keeping her so healthy :) She wants us to push the pediatrician to get the RSV shot in. There have been a few cases of RSV and she knows other preemies who have already got the shot. I have called many times and even had my insurance company call. We were told the RSV shot is back ordered because they are making the H1N1. I am going to try again on Monday and hopefully it's in.
Ailyn will still be on the apnea monitor when she sleeps for another 2 months. Aaron is not happy with this, but I am more than happy. It's peace of mind and I am able to sleep.
Even though this doctor doesn't deal with feeding issues, we talked about Ailyn's feeding issues. I was able to feed her there and show her what Ailyn does while she eats. She agreed it's not normal and wrote a request for us to get another feed study. We talked about a feeding tube....which is the very last resort for us but she has seen another preemie that was born at a small gestation size like Ailyn benefit from one. She told us not to unless she drops off "her" growth chart. On Monday I plan to call the GI and set up a feed study.
What are her feeding issues, you ask? Since we started feeding Ailyn in the NICU she has always eaten slow. With her being so active and taking so long to eat she burns calories. She also is not able to take many ML's per feedings. She wiggles around and cries out after 1 ounce. We struggle to get 3 ounces in her every 3 hours. The 30 calories was too much for her, so we have since went back down to 27 calories. We also have changed back to the preemie formula (Neosure). In the past 12 hours, she seems to be more comfortable during feedings. It's really stressful on us. We don't know if she is in pain. We know we are doing everything we can for her and have a great team of doctors working with us to help her. We are hoping it's due to her prematurity and it will resolve itself as soon as she is big enough.
We have a quiet week ahead before more appointments start back up. We have the big NICU doctor appointment next!
