The Littlest Warrior: Weight Gain Progress Report

Great news! Lucy gained 6.5 oz in 7 days! Babies her age should gain about 0.5-1 oz per day, so this is stellar progress. It looks like our new feeding regimen is working. Our itsy bitsy girlie is still in the 2^nd percentile for her age, but the pediatrician and pediatric surgeon assured us that this is normal for gastro babies, who can have trouble packing on the pounds in the beginning. As long as she’s gaining weight at a good pace and not losing weight everything is A-okay. She should hit 7 lbs in the next day or two.

The hole in her belly is smaller than a dime now, and we no longer have to do the surgical dressings at home! This is GREAT because the tegaderm, which is the clear sticker that goes over the dressing, is very sticky and it tears her skin up every time we have to take it off and redo it. Now all we have to do is cover the hole with a square of gauze and a strip of surgical tape which is much easier and gentler on her skin. At the rate it’s been going, the hole should completely close in the next week or two.

In non-medical news, Lucy turned 6 weeks old yesterday! She’s hitting that point where she’s starting to interact with us which is really fun. :) She recently discovered the use of her voice (for things other than crying) and when she gets excited she’ll build up all this energy and then let out a big yelp. The first night she figured it out she made herself hoarse with all her yelling. She’s still only sleeping for 3-hour stretches (max). Man, I can’t WAIT for that to change. But I’ll take waking up to her crying over going to bed with her in the hospital any day.

Here are some random pics from this past week.