Teeny Tiny Truman

This page is all about Truman, born Aug. 8, 2006 to Kara and Ben.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Day 114

CURRENT WEIGHT: 5 LBS, 3.4 OUNCES

Truman's canula is being turned off today, so he's going to have another run breathing all by himself.

Truman has surprised everyone, including the medical staff, on how well he is eating. Since he started eating again, he has taken every feed by bottle or breast with the exception of one (and that was because of craziness at the time in NICU rather than refusal/inability to eat). It has been discovered that he bottle feeds best while lying on his side, probably because it's more like breastfeeding, which he is a champ at.

His IV came out overnight, and they did not replace it, so he is off of his post-op TPN completely. He continues to be voraciously hungry. As a result, his feedings are now "ad lib" with a minimum of 35 CCs each time, and the milk has been fortified to have more calories. That means he has to take 35 CCs (or 1.2 ounces) by bottle or the rest will be gavaged, but he is allowed to eat as much as he wants beyond 35 CCs. When he breastfeeds, he is not supplemented. Although NICU has a "30-minute rule" on eating because it's believe that taking longer than that to eat by bottle or breast costs more calories than it gains, if Truman continues to scream with hunger after half an hour of breastfeeding, I let him continue. I talked with his practitioner and the thought is that he's wasting just as many calories screaming as he is with prolonged nursing.

He also has finally started losing some of the extra fluid he retained following surgery. He lost four ounces yesterday. Hopefully, he will drop the rest of the extra fluid in the next day or two so that we can know what his "real" weight is to monitor gain.

We talked with the practitioner last night about what he needs to accomplish to come home. One step was getting off the canula, so we are hoping he succeeds this time off of it. The other is that he needs to be able to take all of his feeds by bottle or breast and gain weight consistently for several days.


--Kara

10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow! What an amazing little boy you have there! Looks like he will get to come home real soon (maybe even by his due date)!! I cannot believe how well he had done so far. Couple that with the fact that he was just barely 23 weeks when he was born, and Truman is truly a miracle baby!

Also, I have never heard of a micropreemie coming home without oxygen or a monitor. Even my 28.6 weeker came home with both for 6 weeks. Looks like you will get to take home a wireless baby! That is wonderful! What an amazing early christmas present!!

Rachel & Emma (28.6 weeker)

1:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can we have some more pictures please? I just LOVE reading about the miracle of Truman all the time... but we haven't seen him in a while:) Sending out thoughts and prayers to you!!!!

1:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fabulous! Sounds like you're in the home stretch! The last weeks/days can be tough as discharge can seem so close yet so far away. Stay strong. You are doing an awesome job for your little man.


Katherine (mom to 28 weeker Maggie)

3:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sounds like everyone is continuing to progress fabulously! Way to go Truman- and of course mom and dad- he could not have done any of this without the amazing continued love and support of his parents. Many continued blessings to you all!

3:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am sooooo happy to hear that Truman is improving by leaps and bounds! He truely is a miracle. Can't wait to see some pics!!!
Mindy
Jan 07 boards

7:18 PM  
Blogger Maggie (Sarah's mom) said...

Truman is doing AWESOME! Keep it up!!!

9:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am SO HAPPY to see that he is continuing to do well. Thank you for taking the time to update this. I pray to God that this little tiny miracle continues to get better and better and better...

2:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have been following your story since the beginning. I, too, am the mommy of a preemie and know how heartbreaking and exciting every little step forward or backward can be. It REALLY sounds like he is getting close to coming home. Your family continues to be in my prayers and I think of you daily.

7:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Go SuperTruman! I am so glad that he is doing so well. Sending you lots of positive vibes.
Candace (changa0429 iV Preemies)

9:46 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Truman is truely amazing! I follow every day since basically the beginning and it just blows my mind how far he's come in such a seemingly short amount of time.

I hope he'll be able to go home with you soon. I know you were thinking Thanksgiving, but by Christmas would be even more awesome!!

1:58 PM  

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