Bowel Bulletin

Uh oh, she's already blowing out diapers ... and she's wearing Pampers Swaddlers! Those are supposed to be the best kind! We got another note from Ellie this morning (via night nurse Mandie) saying that she had such a big stool she had to get new bedding. Our day nurse Janice informed us today that Ellie had another big stool for her. When we got here this morning Ellie's diaper was creeping over to the side (because she was doing this weird side arch thing). So when I straightened it I did a quick check and sure enough she was working hard on this one too. She has this odd yellowish brown beady poop that looks like Dip-n-Dots gone horribly wrong. Our little girl has been eating so well that the doctor bumped up her feeding to 15 mL every 3 hours. Since she's eating more milk they are decreasing her IV fluids. For her 11 am feeding she was at 12 mL milk and 3.8 mL/hour IV fluids (vitamins and electrolytes) and 0.7 mL/hour. Yesterday she was switched from 10 mL to 12 mL of milk and was getting 0.8 mL of lipids per hour. When they change the IV at 4 pm they'll taker her IV fluids down to 2.9 mL/hour and leave her lipids at 0.7 mL/hour. I hope that was confusing enough, I should make a graph or something. Meanwhile her mom must be getting maternal cues about Ellie's increased feedings because Mandy is producing milk at an all time high. She just got a record 310 mL in one sitting! She says the Holstein breed would be proud. Last week she was a Jersey, this week a Holstein. Good work hon! Mommy is looking forward to holding her little girl at one o'clock. The nurses have said that kangaroo holds tend to help the mom produce more milk. So the 310 mL record may not even hold through the next pumping!