It’s good to hear you sounding cautiously optimistic. My son was in the NICU so I know how wrenching that can be. I’m so glad that you’re able to pump for Caileigh - I ended up giving up with my twins, I was just a wreck. You’re doing a great job. Best luck to you and your family!
I told WhyKid he could hold her if he wanted, and he got a terrified look on his face and started shaking. So I told him no worries, he doesn’t **have **to hold her. He said when she gets bigger he’ll hold her.
We’re still limited to an every-other-day holding schedule until she’s a kilogram (1000 grams). It’s supposed to be limited to an hour at a time, but today the nurse kindly “forgot” what time she started, so I got to hold her for two hours. She was actually far more stable on me than in her isolette, so there was absolutely no medical reason to put her back after one hour. Yay for caring and reasonable nurses who ignore rules when they’re not sensical! (Of course, it made her job easier, since she didn’t have to push a beeping monitor or adjust her oxygen levels for a while!)
How are things going whynot? I’m presuming that no news is good news?
Pretty much. Still having breathing issues because of the leak around her vent. They stopped the caffeine a few days ago and put her on theophylline, which is a bit stonger but similar to caffeine in it’s respiratory effects. She seemed to have more stable oxygenation yesterday, so I guess it’s a good thing.
She’s up to “eating” (still through a nasogastric tube) 11 mL every two hours, or 132 mL per day. My milk is up to about 250 mL (8.5 ounces) per day, so I’m able to meet her needs and bank some. I’ve finally been keeping numbers long enough to find the pattern: two days of increase, one day of decrease. Literally two steps forward and one step back. But now that I’ve noted it, I don’t get so freaked out on every third day when the production is lower. I’m still doing the tea and the fenugreek. Yesterday I caught a whiff of maple syrup odor from the fenugreek when I raised my arm. Acupuncture has been a godsend, though. Not just for the milk, but for making me feel stronger and more energy, as well as easing the insane carb cravings I was having. (Nutritious food is good, but brownies and cupcakes don’t do much to build good milk!)
She’s up to 890 grams already! Less than an ounce shy of two pounds! Her father kangarooed her yesterday for the first time since Feb 21, and he was surprised at the increase in her weight on his chest. He’s been letting me kangaroo her on all the days she can be held, in an effort to boost my milk and get the right antibodies into it. (Didja know that kangaroo care actually *changes *a premie mom’s milk to add antibodies specific to the bacteria on the baby’s skin? Is that amazing or what?)
She had her IV pulled on Saturday, so all her fluids and nutrition are coming through her milk, fortified with some special premie powder they add to the breastmilk. That’s good, as it’s one less site for infection to settle in. But it looks like the CPAP is still a ways off - her lungs just aren’t ready for it yet.
On Wednesday, she’ll be a month old. Amazing.
That’s great news. Please keep updating us as you have time.
Woohoo!! Two pounds! Two pounds! Two pounds!
That is amazing. Does the same thing happen with full-term babies? How did she react to being on daddy instead of mommy?
I’ve been following your story with interest, and I’m happy to see that she’s doing so well.
It doesn’t seem so, or at least not quite in the same way. All breastmilk is chock full of antibodies, especially the early stuff. But a premie’s mom’s milk is different in a couple of ways. It has some special fats in it that full term milk doesn’t - but those fats are normally present in the last trimester in the uterus. They build the brain and the eyes (which are still underdeveloped in premies.) The premie’s mother’s body “knows” that the infant still needs those fats, and so puts them in the breast milk for the first few months.
There’s special antibiotic chemicals only in premie milk that coat the lining of the intestines to prevent infection from settling inside the intestine. Those chemicals are not, apparently, found in full-term mother’s milk. (Full-term infants are not particularly prone to infections which enter through the intestines.)
Finally, as I mentioned, there’s this weird and apparently exclusive to premies phenomenon where the mother’s milk grows antibodies specific to the bacteria found on that premie’s skin. This can only happen with skin-to-skin contact with the premie, which is why kangaroo care is so important. While a full-term baby’s mother will make antibodies for specific bacteria she (the mother) has and pass it onto her baby, it doesn’t seem that her body makes antibodies for what the baby has on him.
(All of this information was given to us moms at the Breastmilk for Premies class I took last week at the hospital, so no, I don’t have cites.)
In terms of color and consistency, my milk is much thicker and creamier than full-term newborn milk. (I worked as a newborn nanny before these adventures, so I saw a lot of pumped milk.) My milk does not have distinct fore and hind milk - it’s *all *the creamy hind milk looking stuff. There’s more fat and calories in it than in full term milk. It’s almost as if premie milk is condensed milk made just for extra tiny tummies.
She likes being on Daddy just fine. She kept reaching up towards his scruffy chin and feeling his stubble with her fingers. Seemed quite taken with it! 
That’s great news Whynot…woohoo…two pounds!!!
As for the mommy making antibodies, ain’t nature great! In full term infants, bacteria is not passed to the mommy via skin contact (that I know of), but it is when the baby breastfeeds (from mouth to nipple via baby’s saliva) and the mom then makes antibodies and passes them back via the breastmilk. I didn’t know that about kangaroo care and premies, though.
Please keep us updated when you get a chance :).
:eek:
That’s the coolest thing I’ve read in a while!
Fearfully and wonderfully made, we are 
WhyNot I’m glad to hearWhyPremie is doing so well.
My 'puter has been in the Apple hospital until yesterday, so I’m coming in late.
I have to admit, I was a little afraid to read on after the first day… I’m so glad I did. She’s doing so amazingly well. I avoided the NICU because, it was so hard to watch the families of the wee ones who didn’t do so well. But, the treatment choices for IRDS are so much better now than when I started working with infants and children. Congratulations!
Keep up the great work, both of you!
Whatever you do, I suppot you 100%. But since we are in the same low milk boat, I thought I’d throw in my $0.02 on the meds issue. Reglan can and often does cause serious depression in women taking it. With the stress you are under, I’d be wary.
I’m now on domperidone, and in the 72 hours I’ve taken it, it has almost doubled my milk supply. As long as I take it with some food (a piece of toast will do), I don’t have any stomach cramps or other side effects. But having even a little caffiene with it will give a nasty headache (at least for me).
If you choose the med route, I suggest domperidone. Scripts can be legally filled at compounding pharamacies in the US and any pharamcy in Canada. I can help you get a legal supply without a script from New Zealand as well. But scripts are better and more reliable in terms of being able to trust the source of the med (IMHO.).
You are doing so great!!! Good job! Proud of you Mommy!
It isn’t illegal, just commercially unavailable. However, any compounding pharmacy will happily whip you up a supply with a script from a doc. Legal and safe and right here in the US.
I gots me some now.
If you have the chance, may we have some updated pictures of your lovely girl? She must have changed quite a bit since the beginning.
Keep on, we are all sending “GROW” “GROW” vibes her way!
Caffeine through an IV drip…and covered by insurance.
The bill on your statement will be from Starbucks!
Oh, and YAY for the drugs that produce the milk more efficiently.
My condolonces on your boobage. You can book that trip on the Titanic that you’ve always wanted to do!
Go Calleigh!
inkleberry, thanks for the $.02. I’ve come to a similar conclusion myself. Especially considering that I have a history of depression, I don’t think Reglan’s a good choice for me. I’m going to have a chat with my pharmacist dad (not to be confused with my mathmetician/inventor dad) this Friday and see what his take on domperidone is, and if he can help me find a doctor to write a scrip for it if it’s OK for me.
Hokkaido Brit, there’s some updated pictures in the yahoo album. They’re at the end of what was there - I’m keeping it one chronological album for the moment. My dad couldn’t remember the link to it, so he created a webpage that links there automatically. If you type a1.to into your browser, it’ll take you right there, no www or http needed.
What a sweet little kitten
#41’s my favorite.
Akirafamily send all wishes and prayers to Whybaby and family ((hugs))
Starbucks my ass! If I have to pay hospital drug prices for my caffeine, I’m damned well gettin’ me some Kona!
So early this morning I had a dream.
Which is in itself pretty unusual for me. I don’t dream much at all.
In this dream, the nurses from the hospital called and told me they were going to take her vent (breathing tube) out RIGHT NOW. Well, I begged them to wait just 10 minutes, so I could get to the hospital and take her picture. “I haven’t seen her whole face without all those tubes and tape!” my dream self pleaded. The nurse said OK, and I raced to the hospital and got there just in time.
Weird dream. They’ve repeatedly told me it will be a few weeks before she gets the vent out. I’m sure they won’t do anything like that so quickly without letting me know. But, just to be safe, I resolve upon waking to talk to the nurse today and make sure she knows I want to be there when they extubate (remove the vent.)
This morning I walked into the room and found Caileigh on a CPAP. No vent. WTF? 
Turns out Little Miss pulled out her own tube this morning at 2:00.
And there are two Polaroids taped to her isolette. Of her face with no tubes.
[cue Twilight Zone music here]
Following this “self-extubation” as the nurses like to call it, they decided to just try the CPAP and see how she does on it, rather than shoving a new ill-fitting tube down her throat. So far, she’s tolerating it. It’s not certain she’ll keep tolerating it, but for the moment, it’s OK.
And I got to see her mouth for the first time! And her cute little tongue!
How’s that for a birthday present? (She’s one month old today!)