Day 9 & 10: Weight gain, infant massage and important lessons for my parents

Finally! Getting some clothes on.

As we put our first full day in the 'General Nursery' behind us, we are eternally grateful for the progress and gains that Luka has made over the course of his first 10 days.  My mother asked the good question yesterday 'if Luka is doing so well, why does he still have to stay in hospital that long?'  The answer to that is that while he is doing 'well', he is still dependent on machines to monitor his heart rate, breathing rate and oxygen saturation for Apnea and Bradycardia, very common in preemies.

Luka swaddled up (see feeding tube)

In addition to that, he is also completely dependent on a feeding tube for his nourishment, and while he is putting in a valiant effort at the breast, would not currently survive on these acts of bravery.  We were assured that infants are not able to suck at the breast until at least 34 weeks because they are not yet able to coordinate sucking, breathing and swallowing at the same time. So despite Luka having figured it out by 30 weeks + 6 days, he still has a long way to go.  The two main milestones we are currently working on are (a) weight gain, and (b) self-feeding - i.e., from the breast or bottle.  At the moment, he is still being fed through the tube 100%, anything he gets from our attempts are just a bonus, and important for developing his sucking reflex.  We are therefore likely still bound to the hospital for another 4-6 weeks until he can 'demand feed' from me.  This will mean that once he is actually feeding from me, I will be spending even more hours at the hospital to be there when he needs to be fed, and eventually moving back to the hospital for night feeds, followed by him rooming-in with me so that we can practice demand feeding at night.

Feeds:  Luka currently receives 33ml of fortified breastmilk every 3 hours, and likes to have a go at the source about twice a day depending on how wakeful he is.  He is also on a baby vitamin now that provides him with the critical Vitamin D he needs to absorb the added Calcium.

A foot massage from mommy!

Massage: As previously mentioned, we are practicing infant massage on him, currently about twice a day.  The important thing is to watch him very closely and go off his cues that could indicate possible over-stimulation (which is what we don't want).  We had two successful sessions yesterday, both of which he seemed to really enjoy.  Thank you for all the resources that people have sent our way, keep them coming.  A note to new parents - little tiny babies can make a biiiiig mess - so beware of any kind of stimulation that lets the bowels go...we have learned yesterday that Mr. Luka no longer qualifies for 'naked massages'.

Other cares: Since he is now in the General Nursery it means we can finally dress him - a feat slightly more complicated than one would think.  First of all, there is a very limited supply of preemie clothes in Darwin (for the South Africans, think Brits 1980s, for the Californians, Bakersfield), and even the ones we can find are too big - so for the time being we are making due with what the hospital has on hand, since we are obviously holding out for when the little chomper packs on the pounds.

Weight: Speaking of pounds, we are up a whole 65g again - putting him at 1685g, about 100g less than his birth weight.

Folding Luka into a tank top twice
his size

Mom and Dad:  We are doing well, tired, but optimistic.  We had to move to the fourth place in ten days yesterday as the lovely house we were renting near the hospital had a prior booking from 1-10 April, we will move back there though for the duration of our stay.  And to continue the trend of Baking for the Baby, which was a favorite past-time of Susan's during pregnancy - we made delicious and easy jam muffins to celebrate his graduation from Special Care to General Nursery - nurse bribery is totally acceptable, no?