Monday, June 22, 2009

Woohoo!!!

Sorry there aren't any photos, I'm having technical difficulties with the computer. BUT I wanted to report HUGE news. Wait, let me go back in time first.
On Friday Robyn from the CHOC feeding team called to check on Maryam's progress. She wanted to know things like, was Maryam's pediatrician happy with her weight, had she lost or gained, how was OT going? That sort of thing. I told her that Maryam had only lost 3 ozs, we still haven't received authorisation for more OT and Maryam hasn't seen her pediatrician because she hasn't been sick. I did go on to tell her that the RN in the office says Maryam looks great.
I explained to Robyn that I'm still having trouble getting Maryam to drink Pediasure. I told her that on a good day she'll drink 8 ozs and on a bad day only 4. Robyn told me that Maryam needs 18 ozs of fluid a day! Yikes! Next Robyn asked me to do a 3 day calorie count this week.
Over the weekend I worked really hard on getting Maryam to drink more Pediasure. The most she drank on either day was 8 ozs. I limited her water, but she begged and I gave in. She probably drank twice the amount of water as she did formula, ugh. That is terribly frustrating!
That brings is to today. Today I was going to stand firm on my no water rule. If Maryam wanted a drink, she could drink "pink milk". At breakfast Maryam ate half a serving of high Cal pancakes and drank 2 ozs of Pediasure! Off to a good start! At morning snack she drank another ounce! Woohoo! Then at lunch she wanted soup. I gave her Campbell's Split Pea soup with Ham and Bacon and prepared it with Half whole milk and half water! She ended up eating a whole cup of soup which was 360 cals! AND she drank another ounce of formula.
For her afternoon snack Maryam ate a snack bag of Lay's chips and drank 2ozs of water. At dinner she ate 1/4 cup of rice with butter and drank 4.5ozs of Pediasure!!! At 9pm tonight Maryam asked for water, I said no and offered another 4.5 ozs of Pediasure and she drank it all! I asked her if she wanted more and she said yes! I poured 2 more ounces and she drank it all down. That means Maryam drank 14.5 ozs of Pediasure today! And that was fortified with Duocal! That means she got another 50% of calories! Woohoo! When I did a calorie count I counted nearly 1400 calories for the day!
Ok, so today, June 22, 2009 Maryam was 100% orally fed for the first time in her entire life. Words cannot describe how happy I am right now. Words cannot describe how grateful I am to the wonderful feeding team at CHOC. I'm beaming with pride and joy right now.
Thank you everyone for your love, prayers and support for our little miracle baby. She amazes us more and more everyday.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

6 comments:

liz.preemiemom said...

I admit, I cried when I saw your comment that she ate 100% orally for the first time today. That is amazing progress and I am so happy for you! We will keep praying that she continues to progress and keep up the good work.

~jane said...

ok, tears are welling up in my eyes! So proud of Maryam and happy for all of you! 100% orally fed is so AWESOME! Big hugs to M!

Susan and McKenzie

knuts2knit said...

I'm so excited for you guys! Keep up the good work! BOTH of you!
((HUGS)) from Ohio
Ellen & Ally

Zack's Mom said...

That makes me SO happy! Congrats to you! Hooray for Maryam!!!

Zack's Mom said...

That makes me so happy! Congrats!! Hooray for Maryam!!

The Smith Family said...

WOO HOOO Way to go Maryam!!!!!! Keep it up girly!!!
Lori