Weight Gain

The NICU medical team is becoming concerned about Gwyneth's weight. She is now nearly 11 weeks old, more than 35 weeks adjusted (gestation) and well below the growth curve for micro-preemies born at 24+ weeks. She weighed 1lb 6oz at birth, and has only gained a little more than 10oz since. While she may look bigger in the pictures (10oz of 32oz/2lbs is a large percentage), it has really only added a little bit of that baby fat and not much of any substantial growth.

3 days old

74 days old

Because she has been relatively healthy otherwise, it has not been such a concern until now. Lack of growth is usually accompanied by other serious issues, but she continues to breath well, eat well, and show good signs all around.

They are taking precautions to insure that she burns as few calories as possible, including keeping a close watch on her effort of breathing and limiting the amount of time we hold her (moving/holding preemies can cause them to burn extra of calories). We have not done Kangaroo Care in the past several weeks because of the contact isolation and then the scare from last week, but I will begin doing that again within the next few days as evidence shows this can often stimulate growth.

Because of her small size, we are probably still looking at a few more months in the hospital with her (as apposed to having hoped to be released near her original due date of April 24).

The good news is that she is developing well on the inside. Her lungs and other organs are developing as a healthy rate. Also good news is that she spent most of the past day without any breathing help.

Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayer.

Nate