Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Even More Calories


The biggest news in Andrea's life today is that she needs EVEN MORE calories than she's able to get in the current feedings. The amount of milk has been increased to 15.5 ml every three hours. In addition to the milk fortifier and powdered formula that have been added for a while, she is also getting MCT oil. MCT stands for "medium chain triglycerides", which are fatty acids. This is another attempt to get more calories into Andrea in the same amount of food. I read about MCTs (Got to love the Internet) and learned that they are more easily and rapidly digested than other types of fats. I'm guessing that means that more of the calories actually stay in Andrea, instead of being burned off.

Andrea now weighs 825 grams, or 1 pound, 13.1 ounces. We're closing in on two big milestones; 900 grams which will represent double Andrea's birth weight, and 1,000 grams, which will be 1 kilogram. Hopefully, she'll be able to gain some weight faster with the new feeding regime.

Andrea continues to do well with CPAP. They're using a new machine for the delivery now - it's called 'bubble CPAP" because Andrea will generate bubbles in a beaker of water on the machine when she's breathing properly (with her mouth closed). The only reason for this change was that another baby needed the ventilator Andrea had been using, and she didn't. It is a relief to see Andrea moving on to next steps, even though she's moving slowly.

Thank you for positive thoughts, good wishes and prayers. Tomorrow will mark Andrea's 6-week birthday. You have all played a part in bringing her so far.

"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. "
Corrie Ten Boom

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