I have to start with the best news first- drum roll please......
7 lbs 7.4 oz GI Issues-
Eli switched to 26 calorie (actually its 26 2/3 calories per oz b/c you can't mix straight 26 cal formula) on Friday. He just couldn't gain any weight on 24 cal formula, so his dietitian agreed to just go out on a limb and try bumping him up to 26 cal. Well, so far it's been 3 days and he hasn't started stooling out. I haven't noticed a difference between his stooling issues or new problems w/ his obstructions on 26 cal vs. 24 cal, so he's getting more calories in and not showing major signs of problems yet. The best part, he's gaining weight again! Eli was 3308 (Fri), 3304 (Sat), 3310 (Sun), 3352 (Mon) and 3396 today. Eli did manage to poo on the scale, but his homecare nurse said we could still count it. So, his weight minus the big poo was 3356, but we like the bigger number better :)
Vision-
Eli had his follow-up at the pediatric opthamologists last Friday. We don't have much more to update from last time. We are still waiting until Eli can get to a point where they will consider removing his cataracts. Right now he is way to fragile for any elective surgeries. Plus, they will remove the lens of his eye, and no one wants to try and put a contact lens in a 7 lb baby. We talked a little about a prosthetic lens, but it's still an experimental procedure in kids under 5 years. Right now Eli's opthamologist just wants to continue watching him closely until he gets to a point where we can more seriously consider surgery. We have another appointment in 6-weeks.
Growth/Development-
I decided yesterday that I was tired of washing his newborn clothes, they were getting really worn out since he's worn them so heavily for the past 5 months. I decided to "graduate" Eli into 0-3 month clothes. If the recent pictures look like he's "shrunk", it's just b/c he's in bigger sleepers. I went ahead and listed all his preemie clothes on Ebay. I was pretty teary eyed taking picture of all his tiny things. It's hard to see growth when we still weigh Eli in single grams each day, but when I look back at his tiny NICU things, he's come a long ways.
We went out last weekend and bought Eli his "jungle gym". I got a few recommendations from my message boards and decided on the Fisher Price Rainforrest Activity Mat. With just the addition of some extra rings to accommodate his "vertical challenges", Eli just loves his jungle. He will actually lay under it for 2-minutes without screaming and stare at the toys. He hasn't made any moves to try and grab anything yet, but if you put a ring in his hand, he will hold on. Eli still thinks his jungle is much better when Mommy lays right next to him & talks, but we're working on his play skills.
Eli is still working with his OT once a week. We have an hour appointment, but really only do about 20-minutes of range of motion before Eli decides he's done. We talked about moving his therapies up to more then once a week & adding services from PT and the low vision therapists, but Eli always looses weight the days he works with OT. We decided for right now, Eli's #1 goal is to grow more Eli. After he works on his growth, we'll concentrate more on his development.
Eli of the jungle
Working his computer
Big sister Kaitlyn helping out
No comments:
Post a Comment