Eating Enigma

We had a visit with Lexi's pediatrician this morning. She weighed in at 12 pounds and 13 oz. Although she technically did gain weight between now and her most recent appointment, her gaining only 5 ounces over the last 3 weeks is not a good thing. On average, they are looking for healthy babies to gain about 3-4 ounces per week. The pediatrician informed us that Lexi is eating enough to keep herself hydrated, but obviously not enough to achieve desired growth. Needless to say, this concerns us greatly and reaffirms our suspicion that she isn't like other little kiddos quite yet. The good news is that she is keeping herself out of the hospital and seems to be good natured. The bad news is that we need to continue trying to figure out not only why she isn't taking more in, but why she doesn't really have an interest in eating during most of her feedings.

Our newest game plan is going to be increasing her rice cereal to two times a day in addition to feeding her the same number of bottles. We're also going to switch back to using special Elecare formula instead of breast milk next week, in order to see if she still needs predigested formula to eat and absorb what she needs. The thought is that she can soak up nutrients easier if it is predigested, and hopefully that will lead to some healthy weight gain once again. Lexi's feedings certainly are stressful experiences and a double edged sword. On one hand, we find ourselves hoping they identify something medically wrong with our child, so that we can diagnose her eating problems and know how to fix them. On the other hand, we hope they don't identify any issues, as no one wants more medical issues associated with their child. Lexi's eating issues were made even more frustrating this morning by the hard evidence she is not gaining enough weight, but we will just keep trying different things and hopefully find the right combination at some point.

Thanksgiving Day Feast

On this Thanksgiving Day, we have lots for which to be thankful. For starters, we have a beautiful daughter that has already defied so many odds to be here with us and bring us so much joy. She continues to be a fighter, and we are so thankful for her demeanor and stature. We also have wonderful family and friends that have been supportive through these last few stressful months. We are just thankful you are all in our lives. Finally, we are thankful to have each other. The more we go through, the more we are glad that we have each other to do that. In light of the awful events in India, we are thankful that we remain safe and surrounded by wonderful people.

We are also thankful for Lexi's progress. We had several newsworthy things emerge today, which was a lot of fun. For starters, Lexi got her first solid food today, a rice cereal Thanksgiving Day feast. Our expectations for how she would handle it were very low after talking to several parents who said it pretty much runs down their face. However, Lexi again proved she does everything her own way. She moved her tongue and mouth almost right away, and she managed not only to keep the food in her mouth, but also to actually swallow it as well. We were so proud of her. Feeding her bottles has been a nightmare lately, but apparently, she likes the solid food, which is great.

Lexi also shocked both of us by rolling over today from her tummy to her back. We're not certain we can officially say that she is rolling over in general. We're sure it will be just like the giggle where it happened once and then was nearly impossible to get her to do again. As parents, you think your kid does something and all of a sudden they are masters. The reality we are starting to realize is that they can do something one day and then it can be several days before they figure out how to do it again. Regardless, while getting in some tummy time (or T-time as we have started calling it), she rolled off the wedge under her belly onto her side. Then, she flipped her legs over rolling onto her back. I quickly put her back on her stomach again, and she repeated it two more times. The fourth time, though, she promptly threw a fit and put her head on the ground declaring defeat. We don't expect a repeat performance for a while, but it was fun to get that surprise on Thanksgiving and remind us once again that we have a lot to celebrate this year.

Lexi's Special Visitor

We had a special visitor this week. Well, actually Lexi had a special visitor. As we are slowly realizing, people don't come to see us anymore... it's all about the baby! One of Lexi's NICU nurses Toika mentioned that she would love to see Lexi since it has been over a month since Lexi left the NICU. Toika works nights, and we obviously have our doctor visits during the day, so she never gets that chance around the hospital. So, we invited her to stop by our house and see her in person, which she did. As you can see from the picture, Lexi enjoyed the visit and gave Toika many smiles throughout the afternoon.

Toika made us smile, too. You see, Lexi hasn't been eating the best lately. And when I say lately, I guess she really hasn't eaten the best ever. However, some days it is better, and some days worse. The last couple of days probably have been about the worst since she came home, as she has only been taking an ounce or two at a time and screaming her way through most feedings. Since our pediatrician gets concerned at 3 ounces, noting that is enough to keep her hydrated but not allow her to grow, 1 or 2 ounces really concerns us to say the least. However, Toika kindly pointed out that tears in Lexi's eyes, which we saw for the first time today, and saliva and bubbles in the mouth, meant she couldn't be dehydrated. So, that made us feel a little better. We will give it another day or so, and if she still isn't taking more milk, we'll probably place a call to our pediatrician to discuss things. Being NICU and "gut baby" parents, it's hard to know when you really should call the doctor, and when you are witnessing things that are not normal for most babies, but are normal for yours. As Toika says, we just have to trust our instincts and hope those are right.

Bears Victory

It was a sports weekend in the Bunch Household. Last spring, the announcement was made that the Bears were going to be playing the Rams in St. Louis. Since this doesn't happen every year, Brian got excited. So, we invited some fellow Bears fans down for the weekend to go to the game. Lexi celebrated by wearing her new hat and booties to support Dad's team. Dad got some fun time with the boys, checked out the stadium and did some tailgating, and got to see a Bears win.

Making the trip to St Louis for the weekend were Zeb and Jasmine Gilliam from Chicago, and Brian Merkel, Jim Wilkison, and Jim's fiance Dari from LeClaire, IA. The guys got a great weekend of football, highlighted by the Hawkeyes 55-0 pounding of the rival Gophers on Saturday night and the Bears 27-3 pounding of the Rams on Sunday. The girls got a Saturday afternoon trip to the mall and a lot of time with Lexi on Sunday, as evidenced by this picture of Jazzy spending some one-on-one time with Lexi.