2 weeks old - his job is to gain weight

I slept at hospital between the 6am and 9am feeds and managed to wake up for rounds. The second surgeon came by and debraded his incision. He says it is not infected but has failed to close properly. He opened it up and we packed it with a kind of gauze strip to keep it moist. Apparently it needs to heal from within.

The goal for the next phase is for Wren to gain weight which can be hard with a heart issue and post surgery. A nutritionist came by with a plan - I am to nurse him 4 times a day with the goal of having him take 65g of milk. He gets a supplement of breastmilk in his tube if he tires before that.

So far today he ate:
6am - 38g
9am - 56g
12pm - 58g
3pm - 64g
6pm - 78g

So he is improving although it is a lot of work and fussing to get him to latch.

During the night (or when I am not there) he will get calorie fortified breastmilk through the tube. This is because babies with heart 'problems' tend to work harder with circulation using more calories than other babies. Wren breaths a bit faster than normal which takes more effort. Nursing also takes effort and he sleeps immediately afterwards for a long while. The idea is that the supplement and tube feeding is giving him extra gain with no effort.

I am not thrilled about it - I am really enjoying nursing him and think he is doing well - but he has to show weight gain to go home so if this is what it takes I will go along with it.

Once again the surgeon implied that the jury is still out on how Wren's left heart is going to cope with doing all the work. They said they will watch for signs of fatigue such as sweating, rapid breathing and such. They will also watch echo's at longer intervals to see whether his left ventricle becomes "less stiff" and how the valve does. However, for now weight gain is going to be a good sign.

Thanks again for all the support and well wishes.