Two Pounds!!

In Edward's mouth sits a 6.5 French orogastric tube (in addition to a nationality, French is also a unit of measurement commonly used in medicine: 1 French = 0.33 mm).  This tube courses down his throat into his esophagus and terminates in his stomach and provides access to his gastrointestinal system as he is far too young to safely coordinate swallowing.

At birth, Edward received his nutrition intravenously mostly in the form of dextrose and lipids (aka sugar and fat).  About ten days ago, he was started on almost microscopic amounts of breast milk - 2.6 milliliters every 3 hours through this orogastric tube (for reference, a can of Coca-Cola is about 355 milliliters).  When these feeds began, we waited with bated breath to see how he would tolerate them.  The seemingly simple goal of feeding and gaining weight is amongst the most important and complex of Edward's care.   To our great satisfaction, Edward has tolerated the feeds beautifully.  He is now receiving nearly 11 mLs every 2 hours which works out to about 4 ounces/day.

Every night Edward is weighed.  Katie and I patiently await this number every day, secretly guessing what the number will be in our heads and hoping it will be higher than the last.  As with all things in the NICU, Edward's weight is a rollercoaster.  He started at 800 grams, or 1 lb 12 ounces.  Immediately following delivery, as expected, he lost a little over a 100 grams and dropped to 1 lb 8 ounces.  But since, he has started to slowly regain the weight he initially lost.  He would gain 30 grams and then lose 10.  Then he would gain 40 grams and lose 20.  Up and down, up and down.  But since Katie made the 'Hungry Caterpillar' Sign (see below post), Edward has in fact been a hungry caterpillar.  Our son now weighs in at 930 grams!!  More importantly, this works out to a gargantuan 2 lbs (and 0.7 ounces.....who am I to take anything away from him).  Though a small milestone within a marathon, Katie and I were thrilled to meet this goal.

Otherwise, Edward continues to do relatively well.  He is still extubated and is doing pretty well on CPAP.  He is still on antibiotics for an infection associated with one of his IV lines (which has subsequently been removed) and they are due to end tomorrow.  We hope he continues to do well without any further need for antibiotics.  For now, enjoy some pictures of the 'two-pounder.'