8-9-06 Growing stronger!

Burke remains in good spirits as he continues to work on growing and gaining weight! :) Over the past few days he's lost about 4 ounces but nothing too alarming or unusual. Because of this, we are now adding more calories to his milk to help "beef him up" a little more! The doctors would like to see him gain weight steadily before he can go home. They've also suggested to us that he likely will go home on tube feedings. How this works is Burke will continuously receive milk through a syringe pump hooked up to his tube. Basically milk drips into his intestines 24/7 which helps prevent the dreaded "reflux" that causes the errosion and stricturing of his delicate esophagus. At this point, Burke doesn't necessarily feel "full" or "hungry" but is satiated. Once he tolerates these feedings (and the reflux) well, he will begin to get milk directly into his tummy through the tube feedings and swallowing it down via breast or bottle feeds. We have no idea what the timeline for this will be...it all depends on how Burke is able to adjust to these new changes. Nate and I have learned how to set up his tube feedings and give his medication...Nate actually taught me how to do it all...he is a pro! All in all, we've made teriffic progress! Just think, a little over one week ago he was on CPAP for respiratory support...this little man amazes us each day...we are so totally proud to be his parents!

Many thanks to those bringing the yummy food to help Nate and I stay strong too...we appreciate you all so much! :)

Comments

Anonymous said…
Look at those eyes... Burke is ready to rock n roll. We'll be outta town thru Monday...bet Burke beats us home.

Lots of love and prayers bounced off that big beautiful moon.
10:06 PM
Anonymous said…
Nate, Chris and Little Burke,
Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to update the blog and add photos. I know you have so little time, but I know we all appreciate it. I love to see these photos of burke with his eyes open. The one with dad at the end of last week was great! I hope to be traveling up to Seattle/Tacoma the following weekend. I hope to see all of you then.
-derek
5:56 AM
Anonymous said…
Burke looks very good and I hope he gets to go home real soon.
God Bless you all.
Michelle
6:57 PM
Anonymous said…
Hope to see some more updates and photos real soon of all of you.
Miss you all very much hope to see you soon.
God bless you keep you in His loving arms.
Michelle
9:25 AM
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