Today was a really good day for little Mario. He is really making progress and a lot of the nurses are commenting on how well he is doing. His night nurse, Sara, (yes, he has a Sarah for his primary during the day and a different Sara for his primary at night), had him on Tuesday night, was off yesterday, and had him tonight. She couldn't believe how much he has changed just in those few days. Dom and I notice changes in him every day.
Today they increased his feeds to 42mL/feed of BM24. I breastfed him for 3 feedings today (12pm, 3pm, 9pm), 20 minutes each feeding, and he did very well. He was also bottlefed at both his 6am and 9am feedings. At the 6am feeding he took 10mL in 10 min via bottle and was given the remainder of his feed over the pump. At the 9am feeding the developmental therapist worked with him and got him to take 19mL over 20 minutes and the rest was given over the pump. The therapist was quite impressed with how much his nippling skills have improved since she tried working with him on Tuesday. She said his suck is much stronger and more coordinated. He is much more awake and alert prior to each feed and is showing signs of agitation, signaling that he's hungry. He roots around and sucks on his hand, his pacifier, or whatever else he can find. So, we're definitely moving in the right direction as far as that goes.
I didn't get a chance to work with the lactation consultant during the noon feeding today because she got tied up with another mom she was helping. But, she stopped by after Mario and I were done and we talked for a while. She's very pleased with how he is doing and keeps telling him he's her poster child for how to breastfeed a preemie. She is very encouraging and really nice to talk to. I talk to her or the other consultant each day during the week and am very grateful to have them right there to help out with things. Dom and I are glad we have the big freezer downstairs because I am accumulating quite a supply of pumped breastmilk here. My bin in the NICU is still full and I haven't had to bring any in from home. Sara mentioned that mine is the only bin in the freezer that is constantly full.
When we weighed him this evening he had gained 1.6 oz and is now up to 4lbs, 11.6oz! The little man sure doesn't have a problem putting on weight. Several of the nurses and his resident have commented on that.
He continues to have less of his episodes and all of them have been self-stims (shhh, don't say it too loud, we don't want to jinx it). His bed is gradually being lowered and so far he seems agreeable to it.
So, today was a good day for the little man. He definitely recognizes when either Dom or I are there with him and continues to love his mobile. He's such a good baby and doesn't really fuss much. He's pretty laid back and just goes with the flow right now. Of course, we'll see how long he keeps that up ;)
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