Caitlin this week

Caitlin made this cute bear project with Inna, our au pair:

Got dressed herself as usual:
Made this beautiful art project:

Me: that's an awesome butterfly, Caitlin!

Caitlin: it's an elephant.

..and also....

WE HAVE WEIGHT GAIN!  not much, but Ryan gained 2 ounces over the past week, so at least he is going in the right direction--15 pounds even--still heavier than his little sister.  I haven't talked to anyone from the clinic yet to see what their expectations are of him so I'm not sure if this is enough gain to get the IV line out of his leg or if they'll want more weight checks before they do this.   The rice cereal has really helped us and has allowed us to increase his rate of formula again, so that's been key---hopefully we can continue to go up. (Thanks for the prayers, BEN!)  Regardless, we are still waiting for a few more results from the lab tests that were drawn yesterday...

ULTRASOUND RESULTS

IMPRESSION: 1. Unremarkable ultrasound of the abdomen. Normal color Doppler of the liver and spleen.

(there was no number2)

so far so good....2 weeks without TPN

quick TPN-less update:

--labs last week were good. no signs or symptoms of dehydration.

--no weight loss so far.

--no weight gain either, so now we pray he can gain some weight over the next week 

(still at 14 pounds 15 ounces)

--formula up to 40 ml/hr

--doctors are ordering a few tests including an abdominal ultrasound to try to figure out why Ryan's alk phos is so high--all other tests have come back normal and all his liver labs are normal now too...so I'm going out of my way to get these tests done this week.

--so a few more tests and some weight gain and then the Broviac line can come out.  The line's been giving me some trouble lately (like yesterday I had to take an unexpected trip in to the surgery clinic because it seemed to be starting to clot off--they instilled some tpa in the line and it is better now)--so I want it out...like, yesterday.   But of course, we want to make sure he is thriving off the TPN first and we haven't established that yet.

--to help firm up what's in his diaper, so that we can advance his feeds, we have started rice cereal.  he pretty much hates it (maybe it was the princess spoon?).

..so we may have to sneak some in his bottle until he learns how to eat a bit better.  we'll see.

Hi Dr. I!

I did have to reassure Ryan and Nora that they were not going back to the NICU when Dr. I came to visit.  We had a great time with Judy, who worked very hard leading the NICU team to save Ryan's life on 3-18-09 when he got so sick.  It was a lovely reunion....complete with Ryan leaking formula all over her....but what would a day without a pump or tube malfunction be around here?

Comparison pictures...

CAITLIN:

RYAN:

NORA:

Great-Great Aunt Patty--always a good sport