Tuesday, November 25, 2008

20 Day Progress Report

Patrick and Savannah will officially be 20 days old tomorrow and they have made such amazing progress over these initial 3 weeks.

We spent a good amount of time at the hospital this afternoon as April Kangarooed with Savannah and we just hung out with Patrick. We continue to be amazed by the progress that they have made since they were born and especially over the past week.

Patrick began receiving food 9 days ago and initially received 1 ML every 12 hours. Today, he was receiving 120 ML over the course of the day. At this point, they are increasing the amount of milk he receives every 8 hours and that will continue to happen as long as he continues to tolerate his feeds. Patrick has gained 13 ounces since birth and now weighs about 2 Lb 4 ounces. He still has the PICC line hooked into his arm as well as a feeding tube in his nose but besides that is free of any other tubes. His digestive system and intestines seem to be working much better as of late but the doctors will continue to keep an eye on that area just in case. Overall, Patrick is doing very well and just needs to keep putting on the weight. Oh yeah, the doctor gave us the OK to Kangaroo Care with Patrick so April will be doing that tomorrow.

Savannah has made some new strides over the past few days. First off, the nurses have started to use a bottle to feed her a very minimal amount of food two or three times a day. This is done to begin to stimulate her feeding mechanism more than actually provide her with food. Secondly, she is now able to wear clothes because of her weight so April and I will be bringing her a shirt to wear tomorrow. Finally, the nurses have turned off the device in the incubator that adjusts the temperature up and down because Savannah is now able to regulate her own body temperature. They still continue to check her temperature every few hours just to be sure but she is doing a good job of keeping it where it needs to be. Savannah has gained a total of 10 ounces and now weighs 3 Lb 5 ounces. She is now receiving about 248 ML of milk every day and continues to tolerate all of her foods. The PICC line has been removed and the only tube that Savannah has is the feeding tube in her nose. Overall, Savannah is also doing well and like her brother, needs to continue to gain weight.

We are hoping that the long holiday weekend will give us some time to finally get some pictures up so thanks in advance for your patience.

1 comment:

Cindy said...

I'm glad the babies are doing so well, you guys remain in my heart and prayers. Happy Thanksgiving! I'll be working! I guess we are very busy. Love you,Cindy P.