Spring has finally sprung here and, while everything is greening and sprouting outside, we’ve got our own little flower to watch!
When Kamy was born, her official recorded weight was 6 pounds 6 ounces – according to the scale in the delivery room. However, later Monday night when they re-weighed her for her assessment, she weighed in at 6 pounds and 13 ounces. Normally babies lose weight for the first several days after birth – usually a combination of water weight and some nutritional loss. So, when the nurse told me around midnight on Monday that she was 6′ 13, I was a bit confused. The weighed her again and checked the calculation from grams … yes, 6 pounds 13 ounces was correct. The verdict then? That the initial scale and weight in the delivery room was not calibrated correctly. So, how much did she really weigh at birth? We don’t know. We are guessing she probably weighed around 6 pounds and 15 ounces, or just shy of 7 pounds.
Now, birth weight is important for one main reason – it is used as a bench mark by pediatricians to determine if the baby is getting enough nutrition and not losing too much weight. Most doctors start watching the weight particularly closely if the baby loses about 7% of their birth weight. If they do lose upwards of 8 – 10%, doctors will want you to supplement feedings with formula or expressed milk in order to make sure the baby is getting enough to eat.
Since we didn’t have an accurate birth weight for McKamy, it was a guessing game for the doctor. She is a vigorous eater though, so we were not too concerned about her getting enough to eat. When it was time to eat, she definitely let us know about it!
- Monday 3:22 am – 6 pounds 6 ounces
- Monday 11:30 pm – 6 pounds 13 ounces
- Tuesday evening – 6 pounds 12 ounces
- Wednesday morning (at discharge from hospital) – 6 pounds 10 ounces
Thursday morning we went to the pediatrician’s office for our checkup and to address a few paranoid parent concerns. She got a clean bill of health though … and a new weight. She now weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces! Hooray! She had turned the corner and was putting weight back on already. This was great news because that meant she was getting more than enough to eat. My milk had come in Wednesday afternoon and she was eating like a champion.
Kamy has continued to nurse vigorously and often. She is a cluster feeder, which means she will eat several times back to back in a couple hours and then sleep for 3+ hours on her own.
When we went to the hospital for some blood tests this morning, we had her re-weighed while there. As I said in an earlier post, she seemed like she had grown a lot already. Sure enough, we had a new weight! She is already up to 7 pounds and 8 ounces! ((If you’re counting closely, she’s up to 7 pounds 11 ounces once fed!)) Believe it or not, she has gained 12 ounces since Thursday morning and averaged gaining more than 2 ounces per day. Apparently she IS getting something from all the feedings!
The number one piece of advice we were given by friends and family before Kamy arrived was to enjoy each day and each stage, because they grow so fast. I thought I knew what they meant but it is going even quicker than I thought it would! Our little girl is growing already. I am so thankful that Keller and I get these three weeks to dedicate to her and that I am blessed to get to stay home with her for the long term. She is so incredible!
Beautiful baby girl … we LOVE you!