Progress In Feeding, Weight Gain, And BRADY Events
Kymani has been doing so well with feedings. She had a bit of a backslide yesterday, due to the stress from her vision exam. But that's very normal and she has seemed to pick right back up since yesterday evening. She has been drinking at least some of her bottles every feeding, finishing (or getting close to finishing) most of them.
Once she is nippling (drinking the breast milk on her own via the bottle) 80% of her feedings, the feeding tube will come out and what she doesn't finished will no longer be given via the tube. We will soon find out what her current percentage is and how close she is to that eighty percent.
The other big feeding news today is that she has been switched to Dr. Brown's bottles with preemie nipples because the slow flow disposable hospital nipples with the breast milk containers were a bit too fast for her. She choked a bit on them a few times and we felt that this was hindering her progress. The doctors agree. It was their idea to switch the bottles.
But the funny thing is we talked about asking them before they did it and coincidentally wanted to use those same bottles. They are the ones we bought Kymani before she was even born. Once she switched, she looked so much more comfortable during feeding. Everyone feels this should help.
BRADY Events - If you read yesterday's update, you'll know that Kymani had a small BRADY in response to her vision screening. The good news is that one doesn't count toward the amount of BRADY events that affects her going home. That's because it was small and quick and was in response to a stressful action. So, she still hasn't had a true BRADY since June 28th. That means she has gone 9 days since having one and it only takes 5 non-BRADY days in a row to be safe enough to go home.
Other News
She especially likes the voices of mommy, daddy, and siblings - of course! She also really likes Dave & Ava, just like Nova does. There's a lot more. Simply put, she is progressing extremely well for a preemie baby born at 30 weeks that is only 4 weeks old. She hasn't even reached the gestational age of a term newborn baby and already she is doing so much! What a superstar!
Some of the doctors and nurses have mentioned some interesting facts to us regarding her success rate. Apparently, African Americans who are born prematurely often fare better and thrive more quickly than others. This is also true for females. She has some African American blood in her and is a girl, so that gives her a better chance, statistically. We looked it up and sure enough, it's definitely been scientifically proven that African American baby girls do the best as preemies. Is this why she's doing so well? Who knows for sure? But it definitely can't hurt.
What Does This All Mean For Going Home?
So, please continue to send positive vibes, pray, light candles, cast a white spell, meditate, whatever it is you do that is positive toward Kymani feeding consistently so that we can bring our sweet baby girl home.
Don't forget to enter our contest regarding when Kymani goes home! Hurry, before she goes home and you can't guess anymore! Will you win?