Friday, August 7, 2015

Baby's getting fat!



Camille isn't quite in this baby's league, but she is at least starting to look almost normal.

Saying that  Baby Camille is getting fat is a slight exaggeration. She gained two ounces in a day.  I think it was all the strawberry waffles her mother ate. Her mother doesn't eat whipped cream, so she didn't have the added fat, but she had two waffles with strawberries, which may have translated into high-calorie milk for Camille. 

In any event, Baby Camille Catherine weighs 5 lbs., 2 oz. When she puts on two more ounces, she can eat every ninety minutes instead of every hour on the hour. That seems like a small step, but to her parents, who take care of most of the feedings, it's huge. Then once she reaches 6 pounds, if jaundice is gone, the interval between feedings can be  lengthened to every two hours, and if she sleeps through one night feeding, they can let her.

Jillian is eating as much as she can to produce plenty of milk and to make it rich in fat and nutrients. Jillian has lost all her baby weight and is fighting to keep at her normal weight because she burns up so many calories by nursing. She'll only have to produce milk for another six weeks or so, although her doctor said if her CF symptoms hold off as well as they have been and if she can keep her weight up, she can continue  a little longer. Breastfeeding is healthful for both babies and mothers. 

If the breastfeeding becomes too much of a strain on Jillian's body, she can slow or stop. There's a three week supply in storage, and two aunts who are still lactating are storing extra milk for her as well. At the rate she is going, this baby will be in a good position to audition for a fat baby in a circus  before long, though she's still quite scrawny at the moment. It's been very interesting to watch her come out small, then drop almost to a scary level, then slowly but steadily grow both taller and fuller.  

What's weird to me is to think of how much smaller I was than she was when I was born.  My mom and dad both say that I was 2 lbs, 2 oz. My  mom remembers being told, and my dad actually observed the weighing-in process. For some reason it was recorded as 2 lbs., 4 ox., but my parents are both sure it was 2-2, not 2-4, and I trust their memories. Regardles, 2-4, 2-2, it's still very small. I think my very lowest weight was one pound, thirteen ounces, and I wasn't there for long. I was on some sort of constant food drip into mt stomach, which Camille would have probably needed if she'd lost much more weight. My dad said I was considered healthy, though, and that my lungs were strong and my survival was never in doubt. I was the loudest crier in the NICU and considered the healthiest baby in there even though there were larger babies in there at the time.

Baby Camille seemed so tiny at 3-13, and then down to 3-3, while I was only about  2/3 her size. I must have looked a bit strange. I was classified as a micro-preemie even though my gestational age wasn't clearly established. My birth weight may have been due to insufficient placental nutrition. Sometimes with twins, one baby gets a better placenta and the bulk of the nutrients, while the other baby is stuck with what's left over. Matthew was the hog, and I had to scramble for the little food left.

My dad, and even my mom to some degree, say I was quite cute, especially for a baby so small. They say that other people visiting the NICU would sometimes comment on it. The people, visiting other babies, would pause at my incubator and say, "This one's almost cute." It was so nice of the people, and it seemed to happen consistently, to insert the almost. I couldn't merely be "cute," or "kind of cute," or "a little bit cute." I had to be  "almost cute."  i'm glad I cannot remember it, because if I could, my feelings would probably be hurt. Since I can't remember it, I can just marvel at the rudeness of people. 

Regardless, at least I wasn't so appearance-challenged that any nurses made barfing gestures when they looked at me, which happened with poor Camille. She's catching up in cuteness, however. I'm just waiting until she gets to the "really pretty'' stage, which she'll almost for sure reach considering what her parents look like, and probably pretty soon. 

I know the name of the nurse who made the barfing gesture. I will take a photo of Camille in all her cuteness and send it to that witch. I'll  include a message that she only wishes she could produce a baby even half as pretty as Camille. I'll sign my own name to it so that the parents don't get the blame, though there's nothing illegal in my sending the picture and message to the nurse. Furthermore, no litigation is being pursued -- the hospital agreed to pay the costs of all the transfers in exchange for no legal action on the part of Camille's parents -- so my communication to the nurse won't some how throw a wrench in any legal actions. 

Chances are that Scott and Jillian will never know it happened, but I'll know and the nurse will know. If she has any sense of propriety whatsoever, she won't show it to any colleagues, because it will only make her look worse than she already looks, if possible.  If she does show it to someone, however, I don't care. I would NEVER work in any capacity in any hospital that allows its nursing staff to get away with such unprofessional and cruel behavior. I won't be applying for an internship or residency there.

My textbooks for the next quarter arrived. i opened them and scanned the chapters. Tomorrow I'll actually start reading them in my spare time. I have lots of doctors around off whom  I can bounce ideas and to whom I can ask questions if there's something unclear in my readings. Some of my peers would consider it a waste of vacation  time, but it will make the next quarter infinitely less stressful.

I hear the baby crying. If I hurry, i can grab a bottle of breast milk from the fridge and heat it and let her parents sleep. Around here, one has to move really quickly to get a chance to feed the baby even at 3:00 a.m.

15 comments:

  1. It must be so exciting to watch such a tiny baby get bigger every day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It really is cool. i didn't get to observe it with andrew because I was away at school. I came home to see him be born, but then had to go back a few days later.

      Delete
  2. Why does Camille have jaundice? Is that standard for a preemie baby? It means that there is a problem with the liver. I think that it comes from too much Billy Rubin. Just looked it up: "Infant jaundice is a common condition, particularly in babies born before 38 weeks gestation (preterm babies) and some breast-fed babies. Infant jaundice usually occurs because a baby's liver isn't mature enough to get rid of bilirubin in the bloodstream. In some cases, an underlying disease may cause jaundice." It is easy to identify a fake patient with jaundice by the yellow color skin. I have seen it and it is kind of greenish-yellow.

    Your baby picture on this blog is, by far, the best looking baby picture I have ever seen. It is spectacular! I would love to have a baby that looks that cute. It will be educational for that nurse to see that a premature baby can become so much better looking.

    I learned something on Twitter today. I will put it in the form of a medical question that you may get on a test. Why do they avoid using Viagra in porn movies? It causes the guy's face to look red.

    Did you hear about the guy who swallowed a Viagra pill and it got stuck in his throat? He had a stiff neck for hours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, the 2 most common reasons for jaundice are breast-milk jaundice and pre-term jaundice. Breast milk jaundice isn't something they worry much about. it usually ruights itself. They check Camille's bilirubin levels every other day, but they're not high enough that she has to be on the special bed anymore. She's only mildly jaundiced at this point.

      I like that picture of me, too, except that I look stunned. Someone had just gotten me out of bed because we had to go somewhere, and i had such a funny look on my face that my dad snapped a picture of me.

      I did not know about Viagra and why it isn't used in porno flicks.

      Delete
    2. You mentioned to me before that you looked that way since you just woke up. I would call it more surprised than stunned and I think that helps you to look so ►Divine◄. You look so innocent in that picture. You had just come from that place called the subconscious mind.

      We have no idea what is in the subconscious mind. Before communism, the Chinese were Buddhists and 50% of the world believed in reincarnation. 25% of Americans believe in reincarnation now. No one knows but your subconscious mind knows. If reincarnation does exist, your subconscious mind knows who you used to be and if you and I knew each other before.

      It is possible that this life is part of a much bigger story. Thousands of years before psychology existed, the ancient Indians wrote that in sleep there are dreams and dreamless sleep. We have no idea what happens in dreamless sleep.

      The ancient Indians wrote that while in dreamless sleep, you are one with your true Self or you are one with God. So I propose that the look on your face is from you just having been one with God!

      Delete
    3. Shakespeare said "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy".

      Delete
    4. I'm right on the bubble on reincarnation. I recently read something that judge alex recommended that swayed me a bit.

      Delete
    5. I'm right on the bubble on reincarnation. I recently read something that judge alex recommended that swayed me a bit.

      Delete
  3. Do you know about this medical procedure, Alexis? You can be about 4 inches taller. Many girls in China get this done. They break your legs and put metal rods in your legs for a couple of years-- leg lengthening surgery. It hurts and you are kind of crippled during this time.

    At next Thanksgiving dinner when no one has anything interesting to say, announce to everyone that you are going to get this done. There will be many wanting to comment on this. I guess this would make you about 5'7". "Since you’re breaking bones and stretching them apart so you have just that plain horrific pain for starters."

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's funny. We did talk about this as a family when it looked like there was a possibility that I would top out at about 4' 8". At that time it required a lot of red tape and exe,ptions to get it done on a child in the u.s> i may have needed to go elsewhere, though I wouldn't have been treated anywhere other than canada, australia (where it would have been tougher than here to get it done0 or western europe.) I was about ten years old then. I'd gone through a rough time in my life and was having trouble eating enough, and it was interfering with my growth. My dad was sort of using the surgery option to goad me into eating. At a maximum height of 4'8' it was worth considering in my parents' opinion and even in mine, though I certainly wasn't looking forward to the pain. (The only surgery I'd gone through at that point wasn't actual surgery, but was a bone-marrow donationprocedure. actually, when I cut my wrist, they had to knock me out to do expernal and internal stitching, so that, would have been surgery). My mom had faith that I would grow with proper nutrition, so she was willing to give it a bit of time. She, too, was growth-delayed.

    It's best done when a candidate is still growing but can be done later. It's such a drastic procedure that it's a last-resort sort of thing. One has to decide what height is REALLY not acceptable in terms of leading a normal life. (Of course one can live a normal life at any height, but it's certainly not easy.) For me, a virtual guarantee of being shorter than 4'10' woiuld have been where I would have been willing to draw the line. I could have made do with 4'10" if necessary.

    For a male, the cut-off height would be taller, but I don't know how much. I suppose for the average male it would be tough to be 5'0" or shorter. I'm just coming up with that off the top of my head. I think Danny Devito is shorter than that, and he has made it work.

    i ended up at 5'3". which is very near where my mom is, at maybe 5.3" and not quite one-half. i still may gain that fraction of an inch that she has, but not much more, and even THAT is pretty iffy. 5' 3" is at the tallest end of short rangeor at the shortest end of average. It's a perfectly accceptable height, and when a person is lean and long-legged, as my mom and I both are, the person has the overall appearance of being taller when not standing next to others who are taller.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am glad to read that the baby is gaining weight. As Knotty pointed out, it must be amazing to watch her develop and grow. Especially since she's still not reached her projected due date.

    In regards to jaundice, both Jason and I were jaundice at birth. My mom says it's because we were large, but she didn't have gestational diabetes so I don't necessarily recognize that as the reason. Regardless, it resolved quickly enough that it wasn't an issue. Benjamin was her biggest, but he did not have any issues with jaundice. She seems to think it was the supplemental DHA and EPA that she took throughout her pregnancy, however recent studies have not show a correlation between these two factors.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Did your mom breastfeed any of you at first? For some reaons that can cause jaundice, but someone with an experienced eye can tell breastfeeding jaundice from other forms just by looking. with preemies it's very common, but Camille's wasn't as bad as some preemies have t. no one was ever really concrned about hers, although she did use the jaundice bed that exposes them to raays that break down the bilirubin. some babies aapparently scream until they fall asleep when they're on the things because they can't be swaddled or held, but Camille likes to use her arms and legs, so she didn't care all that much. They do swaddle her now to get her to sleep, but she likes her limbs free and would rather be awake if she can be.

    ReplyDelete