You know, it's never good when the doctor who yesterday told you that your baby is fine calls the next day to tell you he has changed his mind. Nope, not good at all.
To top off a very bad day, the doctor we saw yesterday called about 6:00pm. *recap* Our regular pediatrician is on maternity leave so we saw a different doctor. Nat was the only one checked in, so he was only reviewing her chart (he didn't know about our doctor's two-for-one special). I asked a bunch of questions about how worried I should be, etc. I was happy to talk to someone new. It seemed like other babies about their gestation age weigh about the same. Yesterday, he said she seemed to be gaining weight well enough. ...Skip to today...Everything he said was specifically about Natalie, but can mostly be applied to Abby as well. *recap over*
So, the Dr. Baker calls and says he has been reviewing Natalie chart and has changed his mind. He plotted her growth on the curve they use and she is still 1-2%. She is also especially short for her Gestational Age (GA). I knew that since they are still only about the length of some new born babies. It also said that based on her weight, she should be getting a minimum of 650mls a day. (That means Abby needs even more, since she's bigger.) We are barely hitting 550mls. The 650mls gives her the minimum number of calories she needs to stay on the growth curve - nevermind actually growing enough to catch up to other babies her GA.
After this cheery news, we started talking options. He wants us to pursue an appointment at Lenox Baker (an Speech/Occupational Therapy Clinic). I already had this in the works. He also started using words like g-tube. The problem is all these things take time. Getting into Lenox Baker may take several weeks. If they scheduled a g-tube tomorrow, it could take weeks and weeks to actually get on the surgical schedule. Of course, while waiting for all of this, Natalie continues to NOT eat enough and falls further and further behind. Ditto all of this for Abby.
So, now I have even more to worry about. This day just keeps getting better and better.
2 comments:
Oh yeah, also, my girls only weigh 30 pounds. They are extremely petite. The doctors kept telling me that the girls needed to gain more weight and even recommended putting a G-tube in them. I told the dr. that i DID NOT want a g-tube put in my girls, and that we were doing the best we could to get them fed. I put alot of butter, safflower oil and powdered whole milk in their food. I wanted to be sure that those 1 or 2 bites they took had better be pumped full of as many calories as possible! When the girls grew to toddler size, i let them graze throughout the day. I would set a dish of crackers by their toys, some bread over by their beds, in the kitchen i would keep their milk and just let them eat wherever they were. sure the mess wasn't nice, but i figured their weight gain was more important than my carpet. Plus we could have an excuse to get new carpet in a few years! :)
Oh yeah, also, my girls only weigh 30 pounds. They are extremely petite. The doctors kept telling me that the girls needed to gain more weight and even recommended putting a G-tube in them. I told the dr. that i DID NOT want a g-tube put in my girls, and that we were doing the best we could to get them fed. I put alot of butter, safflower oil and powdered whole milk in their food. I wanted to be sure that those 1 or 2 bites they took had better be pumped full of as many calories as possible! When the girls grew to toddler size, i let them graze throughout the day. I would set a dish of crackers by their toys, some bread over by their beds, in the kitchen i would keep their milk and just let them eat wherever they were. sure the mess wasn't nice, but i figured their weight gain was more important than my carpet. Plus we could have an excuse to get new carpet in a few years! :)
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