Thursday, September 11, 2008

Some lovin'

On a total Ezie-craving whim I drove over to the hospital at 11 tonight... quite a bit later than usual. When I was there, our nurse asked me if I wanted to hold him! :) :) :) :) I was so surprised!! I thought we still had a while until that would happen. She said that not all the nurses are comfortable with the parents holding the baby while he/she is still on the vent.... I think she is just trying to be on our "favorite nurse" list. :)
Here are a few pictures of Daniel lifting Ezie up so our favorite nurse (ok... one of two favorites. Our favorites are Greg and Jerry. This was Greg.) could change the sheets under him. These are from this past weekend.

Unfortunately Daniel wasn't there tonight when I got to hold him. He will be sad that he missed it. But Maggie (the nurse tonight) said we could hold him again tomorrow night as long as he was doing well. So hopefully Daniel can hold him tomorrow!

I am a little sad because they are putting Enfamil human milk fortifier in his milk. He is at the maximum volume he can digest (23ml!) for his weight, but there are not enough calories in the milk for him to gain weight well. So they add this powdered milk fortifier to add the extra calories (and extra vitamins/minerals). We aren't particularly thrilled about it, because it contains soy and corn syrup solids. Hello!! I totally don't want to be feeding my baby corn syrup and soy. We asked about alternatives and Greg our nice nurse was very understanding. I guess he said something to the doctors and so apparently they are looking up information for us about other options. I asked Maggie tonight if we could just feed him extra hind milk and with a mystified look and a scrunched up nose she said, "what's hind milk?" Oh dear. I explained how they could take the cream off of some of the milk and add it to the milk they were feeding him. She didn't seem thrilled. Oh well, I will talk to the docs tomorrow. If he has to get it then I guess it's ok. Hopefully he won't need it for too long.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful site to see...you holding Ezie and Daniel getting to lift him up. I was so blessed to see Ezie in person last night at the NICU. He is so tiny, but so perfect in every way. I'm praying harder that he gains more and more ounces (and pounds) and that he gets off the vent soon so you can hold him all the time!

Love, Mom

Anonymous said...

He's gorgeous!! Look how much he has grown!!!!!! He's looking so strong woo hoo!!!


Regarding Enfamil fortifier, our daughter was on that too while she was in the NICU, and even for a couple of months after she left the hospital because she was a slow gainer and a minimalist in the eating department. (Now she's a great eater so it didn't last!) We felt the same hesitation and angst about adding "junk" to her feeds and also experimented with adding hind milk as well. However too much would upset her system and give her the runs which was counterproductive :(. It was a tricky balance. While in the NICU I do recall pumping off some foremilk separately and then giving the nurses the last 2/3 of a pumping session so as to have more hind milk, but not entirely hind milk. When their intake is so small it's not so rough to do.

Fortifier also has some extra nutrients which help with bones and teeth so it is still beneficial. HOWEVER something in the works back when we were doing the NICU thing was human milk fortifier made from actual breastmilk. Since then a product called Prolact-Plus from Prolacta Bioscience has come out, and there may be others as well. I have no experience with them. If you (or another google-happy friend or family member) are up for it you may be able to find some. Warning--I know the Enfamil stuff is pricey--1 box of 100 4 calorie packets was $100 4 years ago. We were fortunate to get it free from our pediatrician's formula rep once our daughter was discharged and what she consumed in the NICU was not charged to us. I imagine the fortifier made from human milk is much pricier.

Keep on keeping on! I'm so glad you got to hold him. It was so hard for us to wait too. I'm sure you're learning to take pleasure in many things others take for granted :)

Blessings
~Goldie's SIL

Sarah said...

You are so brave to ask for alternatives! I hope those favorites nurses can help you and Daniel get what you want for your baby. It's wonderful that you held him on a whim! What a gift!

Teresa said...

Awww, I didn't know you got to hold him!!! The pictures are soooo cute!!! I love him. :-)

What's hind milk????????? Oh, geez!!! Educate them Kristin!!!

I'm making lasagna and I looked in my cabinet and found some lasagna noodles that had your initials on it! LOL
I love you!

Anonymous said...

Looking at the beautiful pic of you, looking so happy, holding your son, took my breath away and made me cry. What a wonderful moment!
*waving to SIL*

and I see in amore recent post that he is off the ventilator. yaay!!!