Emma's Due Date

It's hard to believe, but 112 days after she was born, Emma celebrated the arrival of her original due date. That's right, if everything had gone as planned, Emma wouldn't have been born until today... As I've mentioned before, you can't judge a micropreemie's progress merely by looking at her chronological age. Instead, you have to adjust things by how many weeks early she was born. So, as strange as it seems, Miss Emma is simultaneously both 112 and 0 days old today.

Emma celebrated by sleeping, eating, smiling, and just hangin' out:









We had a follow-up appointment with the lactation consultant at the hospital this week. Emma was weighed on the Special Care Nursery scale again and it seemed that she had gained only 2 ounces in 5 days, a fair bit less than the docs like to see (30 grams, approximately one ounce, per day is considered ideal). So, after some discussion, we've been asked to increase the fortification of her feeds. Even though she's receiving 100 % breast milk, the docs still like to fortify it with vitamins, lipids, and nutrients. The increased fortification is meant to beef up the caloric content of the milk so she can put on more weight. Emma's new ratio of milk to fortifier will add 4 calories per ounce to her feedings. When you're as small as Emma, those four calories make a big difference.

We also had our first visit from the Public Health Nurse today. According to her scale, Emma weighed 5 lbs., 4.5 ounces. That means she's gained about 3 ounces in 2 days... Looks like the fortifier is working as it should :)