6/16/08

Scratch that bit about Lexey getting to go home if she eats 35 mls. First I will give you the updates on her then I will let you know what has to happen so that Lexey can go home. Lexey is back up in her weight. She is at 1075 g (2 lb 6 oz). They have started giving her a little of her milk through a bottle. She gets to eat from a bottle once every 12 hours right now. Kim got to feed her yesterday. Right now she eats about 8mls through the bottle and the rest is still through her feeding tube which they put through her nose. She is eating 22 mls of milk. Now how they figure how much milk she eats is based on her weight. The weigh her once a day to determine how much to give her. Now in perspective 30 mls=1 oz. So she is not yet getting a full ounce of milk per serving. But she doesn't have to be eating a certain amount of milk to go home. Here are the 3 things that she needs to go home. She needs to eat through a bottle for all of her feedings. The nurses said that if she goes an entire shift of eating through the bottle she will go home. But they would also like these other 2 things to happen. They want her to be totally off the oxygen, but they could send her home on it. They would also like her to be bigger, but again she could go right now if she eats through the bottle. They check to make sure when she eats the food is going to her stomach. She is doing well so far but they are only giving her a little at a time to build up her swallowing muscles. I wonder what it is like for her to taste the milk now. I mean it has always been put through the tube and now she gets to taste it. So much that we take for granted in life, you know?