Last week at our (now) biweekly nephrology appointment, we learned that our little guy, is in fact, very little. He's pretty low on all the growth charts, so we need to work on plumping him up and getting him to grow. We thought that maybe the pediatrician's calculations were wrong back in March when they told us he was below the 15th percentile in height and weight. And then when I took him last week, he was up to the 40th percentile. But a few days later at the nephrologist's office, they calculated him around the 20th percentile. Which is fine if you're a healthy baby, but for Stephen, weight and height are so important. Actually having a long torso is super important so that they will be able to fit an adult kidney in him. We've been thinking this whole time that he was a big boy because he was pretty big at birth (8 lbs. 6 oz.) and he's got such chubby little cheeks that he looks bigger than he really is. Luckily, he has been growing longer, so we don't need to start the growth hormones just yet, but we need to increase his caloric intake. So we are finally graduating from the little 2oz bottles and heading up in the world to the next size. And I have increased his night time feeds by a few cc's per hour. The only downside is I need to now keep up with the increase myself! Between preparing his bottles, cleaning them, prepping his feeding pump, and nursing Mr. Stephen, there never seems to be enough time in the day to pump. I just keep telling myself that I'm doing the best I can, but seeing those damn posters at the pediatricians office about how "breast is best" is so annoying!!
We have a busy week coming up this week. His dialysis supplies arrived today, we have a pulminologist appointment tomorrow, a liver/spleen ultrasound Wednesday, a visit from the County Medicaid people Thursday morning, I actually have a small surgical procedure Thursday that I've been putting off since October (I was supposed to have it done the week after we found out about Stephen's kidneys), and back to the hospital for labs on Friday. So much to do, so little time! Oh, and Stephen's first Easter on Sunday! So exciting!!
Vivienne has been little all along too. I felt guilty/responsible because i was nursing. All you can do is your best. Try switching to drop-in bottles to make less work for yourself. (we did Dr Brown's for 6 months or so and then switched - drop ins are so much easier!
ReplyDeleteKeep up your nutirtion and pump when you can - even if its only 5 minutes - it keeps the production up!
Happy Easter!