Cori Lou is progressing well with eating, but her weight has gone up and down enough that she is still just only 2 ounces higher than birth weight. This is a very important time for brain growth, so she needs to make some headway with this soon. Still, since the total amount she is ingesting is increasing AND the percentage that she is taking by mouth is also increasing, everyone is hopeful about seeing real, lasting weight gains in the near future. With the PICC line removed, all of her nutrition is through the normal gastric pathway. Most of it is still Heidi’s milk.
In fact, the highlight of the day was that Cori Lou got to nurse for the first time and she didn’t have any doubts about how to get to work getting her lunch. Unlike when getting food from the bottle, she didn’t fall asleep and she didn’t lose interest. She got a little drowsy toward the end, but never appeared to be in any distress from working hard. They want her to be taking 80% of her feeding by mouth, as well as have consistent weight gain, before thinking about sending her home. As of this morning, she was taking almost 60% my mouth. Plus, she is having very little residual left in her tummy when it is time for the next feeding. All of this food by mouth is good for her whole GI tract, so she hasn’t needed stimulation to empty her pipes for about 4 days now.
The last couple of days, Cori Lou has been noticeably more alert for longer periods. Her incision is looking very smooth, almost like her skin was playdough that was just pinched together. By an expert with playdough, of course. One of the nurses explained that they use a skin glue in addition to the stitches to help keep it from pulling in between the stitches. This helps the wound to heal with less of that zipper-like appearance. In the photo to the right, her tummy is looking quite full from her lunch!
For those of you who don’t get to see Cori Lou in person as much as you would like, here is another montage of video. She is a rock star.
