Sunday, February 25th - Kaia's comment

Lauren is 2 months old today! At 34 weeks (adjusted gestational age), she's doing very well and progressing through all of the developmental milestones that she should be. Her weight gain has been particularly strong - she weighed 5 lbs 1oz this morning. She's now in a regular hospital crib, and she's tolerating the increase in noise and light just fine. She took her first full bottle feeding last night and sucked down the milk like a champ. Then this morning she nursed better than ever before, so the nurses were very impressed. She still tires easily, so the majority of her feedings will continue to be gavage (tube down her nose and into her tummy) until she gains more strength.

The area that continues to be a challenge is Lauren's breathing. She continues to do pretty well on her nasal canula, but has had a few episodes of bradies (low or no heart rate) and apneas (slow or no breathing leading to low blood oxygen levels.) We have been assured that this is common for little preemies, but she won't go home until she grows out of this pattern. During our 'care conference' with Lauren's primary nurses, nurse practitioners and doctors we laid out a plan for her to hopefully come home in about a month!