6 Months Old!

Today Henry is 6 months old! That is very hard to believe. To me, the hospital stay seems like forever ago. Long gone are the days of wondering if he was going to make it and cringing at all the tubes and wires he had in and on him, worrying about noise levels and if he could handle his 1ml feeds. We have a new set of worries now but they are much more manageable. Strangely, it doesn't seem like it was that long ago that Kate wasn't even pregnant, and we only had our animals to obsess over. Despite it all, both Kate and I are very happy to be where we are today with Henry and think having him was one of the best things we ever decided to do.

Henry was 11lbs 0.5 ozs today. He continues to grow very well. He's actually looking quite chubby. The feeding techniques shown to us by the occupational therapist have been fantastic. He's eating more, more quickly and less often. This lets him sleep more, which makes our lives a bit easier.

We had an appointment with the pulminologist today. It has been a bit of a struggle dealing with them. They took him off oxygen at our last visit, only to put him back on it a week later due to low oxygen readings taken by the home nurse. At that time, 3 weeks ago, the pulmonology nurse said she was going to order a home overnight oxygen saturation study. 3 weeks of nagging her finally resulted in her getting the order faxed over to the medical equipment company who then had to get it approved by the insurance company. The insurance company refused to pay for it, but the nice people at Dependable Home Health decided to do it for him anyway. I'm rather shocked and very pleased that a company in this day and age would behave in such a friendly and caring way.

We received the pulse oximeter last night to monitor his oxygen saturation levels overnight. It was a bit of a flashback to the nicu days of staring at his sat level and heart rate for hours on end. We found that with the oxygen off , when Henry was awake, he ranged around 94%-96%. Asleep, he ranged from 88%-90%. He dipped down as low as 81%, which would have set off the alarms in the nicu, which triggered at below 85%. That was rather disappointing as it seemed to us that he really wasn't ready to be off the oxygen yet. We put the oxygen back on him and he ranged from 94%-98% both awake and asleep. The data are going to be given to the pulminologist, Dr. Brown, for analysis, but it seems to us that Henry is going to be on oxygen for a while longer. Very disappointing. I'm very tired of stepping on his oxygen cord and yanking his head and carting around the oxygen tanks everywhere. We have another appointment with Dr. Brown in a month. Hopefully he will be ready to be off by then.

Dr. Brown explained that his oxygen needs are due to the membrane in his lungs being too thick and not allowing enough oxygen to pass through. Also, his lungs are still damaged and underdeveloped. It is not a case where he needs to be off the oxygen to force his body to build the muscles needed to breathe, because it is not a muscle issue. It is something that just takes time.

Last night Henry slept very well. He is sleeping for longer periods and seems to have his night and days straight. At night he sleeps and wakes up to be fed and changed and then goes back to sleep. We are trying to get him more used to being in his crib, and hopefully that will pay off soon.

He is very much a morning baby. He wakes up around 6 - 6:30am and is very happy, smiley and likes to talk. He can make such cute little noises. Today, he seems to have had a particularly good day. He has been his 6am self several times today, smiling and talking and seeming to enjoy life. Grandma is trying to get him to say "I love you." I think I have my parent ears on because this evening I actually thought it kind of sounded like he was trying to say it.

He has been eating extremely well today. Twice he has downed 120ml's in a single feed. That is about 30 more than what I would have considered a large feed prior to today. He also slept a lot. He likes to sleep in the moving car so he slept to and from the doctors office today. On the return trip, he stayed asleep in his car seat for over an hour after we returned home. It allowed Kate and myself to eat lunch together, which I never considered a luxury until Henry came home.

He seems to be going for about 90 minutes between feeds. However, a couple times today that has been pushed out to around 3 hours, which I think is another good sign.

Tonight we took him to visit Grandma and Grandpa at their house. He seems to enjoy a change of scenery now and then. It is also nice to give his grandparents a small reprieve from their daily commute to our house.

Tomorrow he has an appointment with Dr. Hassan, the GI doctor. We will find out if he has any blood in his stool after changing his breast milk fortifier from Neocate to Similac. If he doesn't, then I think Kate will get the green light to start eating dairy and soy again. Tonight she ate a half a Turkey sandwich, after the deli screwed up her order of a veggie sandwich. She has been trying to work her way back to eating some meat to give Henry the protein he needs, which is hard to get when she can't eat dairy or soy.

Reading with Grandma

On Saturday afternoon, Jeff had to work "two hours" that turned into twenty-one hours. I spent the evening with Henry. He continued to eat well, and he slept well too. Jeff took care of him for the late late-night shift. He put Henry in his car seat next to his work station.

We went for a nice walk this morning. Henry's weight remained steady at 10 lbs 13.5 ozs. Grandpa helped with Henry in the morning. I finished writing the exam that I'm giving tomorrow night in my research methods class. Jeff worked around the house. Grandma came in the afternoon. She read to Henry. He didn't nap much this afternoon but ate very well.

In the evening, we went for our walk. Henry fell asleep toward the end of the walk. He had some milk when we got back to the house. For the most part, he has spent the evening asleep in my arms. Jeff held him for awhile. Then, I suggested to a very groggy Jeff that we try Henry in his crib, which is where he is now. He's been asleep for 2 hours and 20 minutes. I'm signing off, because I can hear him stir.

Oops!

It has come to our attention that we made a big "oops" last week in mailing out thank you cards for the wonderful gifts that our family and friends have given Henry. My mom was sitting in our living room looking at our stamps (39 cent stamps) the other day and asked me if I needed any 2 cent stamps to go with them. I said, "Why?" Jeff and I completely missed out on the postage increase during Henry's stay in the NICU. I completely ignored the news for the month of May. Didn't watch any. I guess that's when the rate increased.

We sent out about two-thirds of our thank you cards last week. We'll be sending out the rest this week. We've enclosed some very cute pictures of Henry in them. And, we really do want to thank you all for your thoughtful presents.

We feel a bit guilty getting our thank yous out so late as it is. And then feel a bit silly at having screwed up the postage. We do know that Uncle Jim received our pictures. Luckily, the postal service didn't check all of the envelopes for the appropriate postage! We haven't had the Post Office return any of them yet, but we are on the lookout for them in our mail box.

If you don't receive a card and picture from us in the next week or so, please, please, please let us know.

Nutritive Sucks and Torticollis

Grandma Kenski came over on Friday afternoon. She helped Jeff give Henry a bath. Then, we had a visit from Judith from the Blake Foundation. She came over to assess Henry's development. Henry was referred to AZeip (Arizona Early Intervention Program) by the NICU. I think that any baby born under 2 lbs 10 ozs is automatically referred by the hospitals. There was a glitch in AZeip's online referral system in June. All referrals were lost. After we'd been home a month, I began wondering why we were never called for a consultation. Found out about their glitch, so I got the ball rolling myself. I guess AZeip contracted the development assessment out to the Blake Foundation. Judith visited a couple weeks ago. This time, she asked an Occupational Therapist (OT) to come out with her. I had explained during my first telephone discussion with Judith that one of our biggest problems at the moment was Henry's eating habits (sometimes taking over an hour to finish a bottle, then it is time for the next one). Yes, Henry's reflux has made it wise for him to eat in small amounts, but eating constantly at a lazy pace is very frustrating because: (a) we have to have a bottle in his mouth all of the time, and (b) this contributes to his sleeping problems.

I know that several parents of full-term babies have said "Eating all the time is normal for newborns" or "Poor sleep comes with the territory." Having talked with the neonatalogist about this, I have felt vindicated that there's nothing normal about how we've been living the past few months. I guess you'd just have to see how we've been living to truly understand the problems we've been facing (that is, if we could let people into our house, which we can't).

The OT's name is Cuyler. And, she was fantastic. She said that just about all preemies have poor sucking abilities (some worse than others, but all generally poor) because of poor muscle strength in the jaw. The jaw of the preemie should be supported while eating in order to obtain the right type of sucking pattern. There are two types of sucks when it comes to bottle-feeding: nutritive and non-nutritive. The nutritive suck is long and hard. The non-nutritive is weak. Long story short, she showed us some techniques on holding the bottle and jaw, and we had Henry eating well in no time. He's been able to polish off 70 mls in less than 14 minutes. This is a God send for us.

Cuyler said that poor sucking leads to poor cheek development, which leads to many problems down the road. When preemies get older and have to take in more food, the non-nutritive suck can end up meaning that they actually burn more calories sucking than they do taking in food, which then leads to weight plateaus and/or weight losses. Obviously, Henry is gaining weight now, but not without lack of sleep and much frustration. And, we don't want to put in him in a situation where he could end up being a failure to thrive case.

In terms of his physical development, we've noticed that Henry uses his right side much, much more than his left side. His pediatrician had said that Henry had some stiffness in his neck on the left. The OT picked up on this and did an examination, which suggested that he has torticollis (tight neck) on his left side. If untreated, it can lead to TMJ and muscle development problems. He is definitely right side dominant (doesn't use the left hand much). The good news is that Cuyler thinks that it is fixable through some stretches that will help loosen up Henry's muscles.

Apparently, doctors and OTs are seeing more and more cases of torticollis in infants. The increase may be an unintended side effect of the "Back to Sleep" campaign. Infants are spending very little time on their tummies. Consequently, their necks are getting stiff from being on their backs all of the time.

Judith and Cuyler are going to call us next week. It appears that Henry will qualify for occupational therapy once every other week. I think that he is being classified as "developmentally delayed" as opposed to having a "disability" at the moment.

After Judith and Cuyler left, we went on our evening walk. Henry was awake for the walk. When we got back, we fed him a bottle using Cuyler's techniques, and again, Henry took down a lot of milk quickly. He then passed out. He began stirring around 9PM. I went and fixed him a bottle. By the time that I got the bottled fixed, Henry had already fallen asleep again. He and Jeff sacked out on the couch. A bit later, I got on the couch and fell asleep too. Henry began to stir a little before 1AM. Jeff and I were a bit surprised at how long Henry had slept. Henry had basically slept in Jeff's arms from 8PM to 1AM straight (except for his brief wake up around 9). That's the longest, by far, that Henry has ever slept in one session. There was one time where he slept almost three hours straight (that's been the exception, not the rule). When Henry awoke, he was really upset. His stomach had never been that empty before. We got him a bottle (he downed it quickly). I took the night shift. He ate several times, but all went down smoothly, which was really nice. He did sleep/lay in his crib for 40 minutes at one point during the night (again, this is an improvement).

I can't help but wonder why the NICU doesn't have an OT on staff, considering that these feeding problems are so common amongst preemies and relatively easy to treat. Jeff and I feel that Cuyler is worth her weight in gold!

Jeff and I switched shifts at 6AM. I pumped before going to bed. Slept until 10AM. We went on our dog walk, which was nice. Jeff weighed Henry at 10 lbs 13.5 ozs when we got back.

Grandpa came around noon. Then, Grandma came around 2:30PM. Both grandparents fed Henry with the new techniques. Grandma had Henry do some tummy time. Henry lasted around 15 minutes straight, which is also a new record. Then, she rolled him onto his back. We learned yesterday that when a baby cries during tummy time, you should roll him on his back before picking him up (so that he doesn't associate crying during tummy time as an automatic way to get picked up and out of it). Marley laid down next to Henry. She wasn't thrilled when Henry reached over and grabbed her fur. She looked a bit started but tolerated it.



Our evening walk was pleasant. Tried to breast feed Henry when we got back from the walk. That lasted just a couple minutes. Then he zonked out. He spent on hour on our bed sleeping, while I watched him. I had a lovely CD of lullabies that Michelle Leonhart gave us playing in the background. I transferred him over to his crib. He fussed at first, but then passed out. He's still sleeping there now.

Yada Yada Yada

Yesterday, Henry spent some time in the morning with Grandpa Kenski. Jeff and I were a little concerned about his rapid weight gain from Wednesday. When we weighed him Thursday morning, he was 10 lbs 9.5 ozs. Looking at our tracking of his input/output, we felt that some of his gain the previous day probably wasn't real. So, we gave him 2 ozs of a concoction of half prune/half water. And, yada yada yada, when we reweighed him a few hours later, he was 10 lbs 7 ozs.

He had a good Thursday...until we took him to Sonora Quest for yet another round of blood tests. I asked the tech why they did the blood draws from the veins, when in the NICU, they did it from the heel. I guess, despite the fact that I told the techs on prior visits that Henry was a preemie, they kept looking at his birth age instead of his gestational age and said that the blood had to come from his veins. The tech yesterday said that he was probably too old for the heel stick because of callouses on the feet that make the heel sticks less effective at drawing out blood. Ummm...doesn't one need to walk on one's feet in order to develop callouses? At 2.5 months (age adjusted), my son has no callouses on his feet. The tech said that she was willing to give the heel stick a try. Jeff held Henry, while tech stuck his foot with a needle. No problems with getting blood, except that Henry was very upset (probably brought back bad memories from the NICU when he was stuck 6 times/day) and was kicking. The tech said that he had a very strong kick. This actually helped with getting the blood to drip out.

I'm hoping that we'll hear from Dr. Bianchi this morning with the results. We are hoping that his TSH levels continue to decline (TSH measures how hard the body is working to produce the thyroid hormone), and we are hoping that his Alkaline-Phosphorous levels have significantly decreased since his stay in the NICU. Although there is some debate in the literature about the interpretation of the Alk-Phos test, many believe that it is a measure of the body breaking down bones to get the minerals it needs. In Henry's case, the question is: Is his body continuing to break down his bones to acquire calcium and phosphorous that he needs? He was on Lasix (a diuretic) during the first two-thirds of his NICU stay. The diuretic was needed, because the kidneys needed assistance doing a job that they shouldn't have had to do for another three months. An unfortunate side effect of diuretics is that it strips the body of calcium and phosphorous. This leads to poor bone density. And that can lead to rickets and bone fractures.

Our walks with Henry in the mornings and evenings have been very pleasant. Henry has been staying awake longer and longer for them. He used to pass out halfway through the walks. Last night, we ran into one of our neighbors, Hal. Hal said it was the first time that he'd ever seen Henry awake. He's looking forward to Henry getting older so that he can play catch with him.

Grandma and Grandpa Kenski came over in the evening to hold Henry while watching the World Series. Grandpa is going to teach Henry all about baseball. Henry already has a Diamondbacks hat. Henry slept through most of the game, except when he got up to drink his bottles. Jeff and I slept as well. When the grandparents left, Jeff took over. Henry slept and ate. He is definitely sleeping better, but we are still having problems getting Henry to sleep in his crib. After Jeff put what looked to be a very sleepy child in the crib, Henry lasted only 15 minutes. The game plan is to try to spend more time in the bedroom during the day, so that he gets used to the crib. Henry doesn't seem to have any problems sleeping in his bassinet (that's in the living room). But the bassinet doesn't have a surface that will accommodate the Angelcare monitor. At least, he is sleeping now. It is often a light sleep, but we'll take it!

We went on a beautiful walk this morning. Grandpa is watching over Henry now. Jeff and I weighed Henry a few minutes ago. He weighed 10 lbs 11 ozs...but no prune juice today, so we suspect that some of that is measurement artifact. ;)

Sacked Out

Grandpa came back last night (Tuesday) to hold Henry. Henry took some bottle, but pretty much sacked out. He was in the deepest sleep that I've ever seen him in. After Grandpa left, Jeff gave him some milk here and there, but for the most part, Henry slept. When Jeff tried to put him in his crib, he woke up and fussed. So Jeff spent the night on the couch with a sleeping Henry on him. At one point, both Jeff and Henry slept for two hours straight! We are hoping that this signals a turning point. We'd like to experience the normal levels of exhaustion that new parents face, rather than the rather extreme levels that we've been dealing with. Having Henry sleep two hours straight a couple times a day would be a huge improvement for us (heck, him sleeping two hours straight even once a day would be a big improvement for us).

This morning (Wednesday), we decided to come up with a new feeding game plan. Henry's reflux has been much more manageable over the past couple of weeks. He does spit up a lot, but I'd characterize it as more normal baby spit up episodes and not true reflux. As I've mentioned before on this blog, reflux and spit up are not synonymous. Baby spit ups are normal. Medically diagnosed reflux, while common in preemies, isn't healthy and requires medication (and sometimes surgery...thank goodness we didn't have to go there). We got rid of the Danny Sling a few weeks ago (not that Henry uses the crib much), which has allowed us to put the Angelcare monitor in place (requires a flat surface). So we are moving forward on the reflux front. We hope to make more use of Henry's crib than we have in the past.

In terms of feedings, Henry still eats every 40 minutes to 1 hr 15 minutes on average. However, we think that with his reflux under control (hope I'm not jinxing us by saying that), we can now push him on increasing the amount that he takes in any one feeding and increasing the amount of time between feedings. So, today's goal was to make Henry wait at least 2 hours between the start of each of his feedings. He had a few feedings that contained over three ounces per feed. We are hoping that we can have a cycle where he (a) eats a large amount, (b) sleeps after eating, (c) wakes up and plays for a while, and then (d) begins the cycle again by eating a large amount.

My dad came for an hour and a half this morning to hold his grandson. We weighed Henry at 10 lbs 10 ozs! He's gaining weight rather quickly, so we've decided to reduce the amount of calories in his fortifications (from 24 cal to 22 cal). We are thrilled that he's gaining weight, but we want to make sure that he doesn't put on weight too quickly. That wouldn't be great for his health. I've been using a website (http://medcalc.com/growth) to monitor his growth. There are problems with a lot of growth charts because they are based on babies that have been raised on formula (breast milk babies tend to weigh less on average than formula babies). Even when age has been adjusted to their due date ages, micropreemies often don't make it on the standard charts. They grow at a different pace than do full-term babies. Consequently, there are special preemie charts that take that into consideration. When Henry was born, he was small for his gestational age, but on the charts. Then, he fell off the charts during his NICU stay. He was not on the curve, but for the most part, his growth trajectory did track as it should from week to week. I had a conversation with Dr. Wispe when we were in the NICU about the growth charts. He said that head circumference mattered most, then weight, and then height (which he didn't think mattered much overall). We've been able to plot Henry's head circumference on the charts for a while now, but his weight and height have lagged below the normal bands of the curve. Well, today, I was able to place both his head circumference and weight on both the full-term baby and preemie charts. It looks to me like his weight is just above the 10th percentile on the regular charts. His head circumference is at the 10th percentile. His height isn't at the 5th percentile yet. On the preemie charts, his head circumference is in the 1 standard deviation band (just above the -1 SD mark), and his weight is almost touching the -1 SD line. His height is around the -2 SD mark. He's making a good deal of progress.

Grandma Kenski came over this afternoon to watch Henry. Henry had been playing in his crib, watching the mobile. I had to go to school for a faculty meeting. I also met with some of my undergraduates (there's a test next week).

When I came home, Jeff was playing with Henry. Jeff was holding Henry's red chicken (named Dennis) and moving it around. Henry was tracking Dennis' movement with his eyes. He was also turning his head when Jeff moved Dennis out of his eye-sight range. It's nice that Henry is doing so well with his eye coordination. We can now really play with him. I can tell that everyone (Jeff and my parents) are having a lot of fun with Henry. Jeff admitted to me that he had been concerned about Henry not tracking things with his eyes. Today, that concern has been resolved.

Kathy the pulmonologist nurse finally called back. Jeff had called her yesterday. She had talked to Dependable yet, but said that she'd get back to us today. Basically, she said that she faxed them the order for the oxygen sleep study on 10/3. She didn't know why they hadn't contacted us yet. She said she'd fax them the order again. A little frustrating because Jeff had called her a few times after 10/3 saying that Dependable didn't have anything on record. Hopefully, this will get straighted out this week. She told me to call Dependable tomorrow. As usual, the parents have to straighten everything out, because the medical professionals won't do the follow-up.

Jeff turned Henry over to me for a while. Henry's new achievement for me today was the squeal. He's learning how to communicate different sounds. He repeatedly squealed for me when I smiled at him.

Henry was in deep sleep mode again this evening. Hopefully, our new feeding approach will allow him to get more rest as well (if he doesn't have to eat all of the time).

Beginning to Coordinate Eyes and Hands

On Sunday, Jeff set up a mobile. It has a feature that projects star and moon shapes that rotate around the umbrella top. Henry loves staring at light fixtures, so getting a mobile with lights was a must. Jeff also put together the Angelcare monitor. It's a pad about the size of a mouse pad that goes under the mattress. It is very sensitive and monitors the baby's movement. If there is no movement for 20 seconds, an alarm goes off. It is so sensitive that it detects a hand being waved across the mattress. Jeff also made sure that it would go off if there was nothing to detect. We think that this monitor will be preferable to the apnea monitor that we have that requires us to put a strap on Henry. With the Angelcare monitor, Henry can be cord free (except for the cannula) while sleeping.

In the evening, I played with Henry using some rings. I placed his hand on the rings so that he could get an idea about eye-hand coordination. He spent several minutes concentrating hard on the eye-hand idea. He took swipes at the rings. It was fun to see him make some connections. He definitely appears to be right-handed. After our playtime, he was exhausted and fell asleep deeply. Jeff and I moved him to the crib and tried out the Angelcare monitor. It worked out really well. We were able to get some things done around the house for a full hour and a half!

On Monday morning, I had the 4AM shift. I introduced Henry to the mobile, which he enjoyed for over an hour. I woke up Jeff around 7AM to listen for Henry while I took out the recycling. Jeff discovered that one song tends to make Henry active, but the classical music feature quiets him down.

Grandpa visited on Monday morning. Grandma came in the afternoon and stayed until 8:30PM, because I was teaching. Both grandparents worked with Henry on the rings. On Monday, Henry weighed 10 lbs 5 ozs.

We discovered that Henry scratched his face, which we are pretty sure was an attempt to pull off the cannula. Yesterday afternoon, Jeff and I took Henry's cannula off for awhile to give his skin a break. We are frustrated that the pulmonologist's nurse still hasn't gotten back to us about the pulse-ox monitor. Jeff calls her every week. She said that she'd get to it. Then, she went on vacation last week. Jeff left a message with her substitute, who did not return his call. Basically, a pulse-ox monitor would tell us when Henry really needs the oxygen on. We suspect that most of the time, he doesn't need it. He does occasionally dip in his oxygen saturation levels (if he's stressed, for example); we know this based on nurse Michael's pulse-ox readings. But for the most part, the cannula just upsets him. And the oxygen blowing up his nose dries out his nasal passages and makes him snuffly. We will call the pulmonologist again today.

This morning, Henry weighed 10 lbs 6 ozs. He spent time with Grandpa this morning. And Grandma came in the afternoon. He is currently staring at his mobile while I write out this blog entry. He seems pretty content and has been making a wide range of cute noises.

10 lbs and Counting

We had an adventure on Thursday night. Jeff and I had planned to head out around 5:30PM, but I made the mistake of letting Jeff sleep a few extra minutes (he'd been taking a nap). This was a mistake because it was dusk by the time we left the house. We walked up our usual route. The dogs ran ahead of us. About one-third of the way on our journey, we heard a rattle. The dogs had found a rattlesnake. We yelled at them to come back to us. Our dog Marley had a rattlesnake encounter back in March or April resulting in us being $1,000 poorer and Marley being very happy to be coddled at the vet clinic as she was given anti-venom by the vet techs who doted on her for five or six hours. We have, of course, seen a few rattlesnakes in our area, but I haven't seen many this year (saw one baby crossing the road in spring). We walked a little closer to take a look, but didn't get closer than 15 feet of it, because it was one angry rattlesnake. The rattle was going off like crazy, which I personally haven't heard before (at least not in person). I guess the dogs really made it upset. Luckily, neither of our dogs were bitten. We turned around and went home. The snake was positioned across the road, so that we couldn't get around it. That was Henry's first rattlesnake encounter.

My dad came over on Thursday night to hold Henry. Despite having a lot to do for my grandmother's funeral, my dad still came over every day, which was great for Henry. He loves his Grandpa Time.

Before we went on our walk on Friday morning, we put Henry in another one of his Gap outfits from Michele. He wore his very first pair of jeans and his very first pair of shoes. He looked so cute! My dad came in the morning, and my mom came in the afternoon. Henry weighed 10 lbs 1 oz! In between visits from the grandparents, I spent some time with Henry on Jeff's and my bed. He likes laying on it and watching the ceiling fan. Because Henry has needed the extra calories and the reflux made it difficult for Henry to lay in a horizontal position while feeding, I hadn't been doing much breast feeding. His food is pumped from me, then fortified, and then given via bottle. I had tried breast feeding him one evening a few nights earlier, and he took to it (I just wanted to see he could latch). He'd been eating like crazy all day (so I wasn't worried about calories), and we tried nursing (which he did for 25 minutes). No problems with bottle vs. breast confusion.








In the evening, Jeff took care of Henry, and I went the viewing for my grandmother. It was a nice viewing. She looked peaceful.

I got back kind of late because I swung by the Super K-Mart to get a bunch of items. Then, I picked up some food. Held Henry for a little bit. But Jeff was so sweet because he let me sleep as I was exhausted. Henry was not sleep and kept Jeff up most of the night.

On Saturday, we went for our walk in the morning. And Jeff continued to take care of Henry, while I went to the funeral. It was a nice service. My grandmother was 88 years old, so many of her friends have already passed away. A few of her remaining close friends came. Some of the children of her friends came. She had done a lot of baby-sitting before she took care of my grandfather, who had Parkinson's and died twelve years ago. Some of the families whom she babysat for were in attendance. Our family appreciated the support from friends and colleagues who attended. Uncle Dan (O'Neil) and Uncle Jim (Kluger) were there. My dad's and my department chair, Chris Segrin, came. The staff (past and present) at the Kyl Office were there. My family is thankful that we have such supportive friends and colleagues!

I wish that Jeff could have brought Henry, but we are following doctors' orders and keeping him away from other people. This will have to be the way it is until March or April. For some preemies with chronic lung disease, the isolation period can be two years. We hope that this isolation only lasts through March or April. Strange to think that our friends might not be able to see Henry until he's a toddler! In addition to Jeff and Henry missing from our family event, I very much missed the presence of my sister Carolyn. She unfortunately had some tests last week and this coming week. And, the airport isn't readily accessible to Pullman. My parents told her that she should stay put, although I know she wishes that she could have been there.

While I was at the funeral, Jeff weighed Henry at 10 lbs 1.5 ozs. When I got back in the afternoon, I spent time with Henry. And Jeff was finally able to get some sleep. I got him up for our dog walk in the evening (made it before dusk). My dad came over in the evening (he's never gone a day without seeing Henry). Jeff went to bed. After my dad left, I held Henry. I got Jeff up around 1:30AM, because I had to pump. At least Jeff got some solid hours of sleep (finally). Then, Jeff and I gave Mr. Henry a much needed bath, which he enjoyed. He didn't even mind us shampooing his "hair" (peach fuzz).

Because Henry was already unclothed (except for diaper), we decided that it was a good time to try kangarooing (something that we haven't done in a couple months). I tried to kangaroo when we first brought Henry home, but the smell of milk on me makes Henry rather active as opposed to sleepy and relaxed, which is what we want. So, Jeff did the kangarooing. Jeff and Henry were adorable together. When I went to bed (it was around 4AM by this time), they were snuggled together on the couch.

Jeff got me up at 6AM. He put Henry in bed with me, while he got a bottle ready. Henry snuggled into me and fell asleep. We finally got out of bed around 7AM. He ate. And then, we went for a long walk around the neighborhood. We took a route that we call the Peregrine loop. It was a longer walk than usual, and Henry fell sound asleep. Our dogs had a great time.

When we got back, Grandpa was waiting for Henry. He fed him a few bottles. Jeff weighed Henry at 10 lbs 4 ozs. He's 9 lbs heavier than when he was born.

My mom should be coming soon with my Aunt Gloria, who will get to see Henry for the first time. That's all for now.

Henry's Diet Plan and Developmental Delays?

Each day runs into the next. Jeff and I have a hard time remembering what happened 12 hours ago, let alone a couple days.

On Sunday, I think that my mom came over in the afternoon, and my dad came over in the evening. This helped because I had a lot of work to catch up on.

My mom came over on Monday morning, and my dad came over in the afternoon. I talked with Jill the nutritionist in the morning. I called her because I wanted to know what we should do with the fortification of the breast milk. Henry had been sniffling over the weekend, so we stopped the Similac Human Milk Fortifier, but I had had a cold, which could plausibly explain the sniffling. Jill said that usually, allergies take on the same symptoms that they've already expressed. Henry's symptoms two months ago were bloody stools. He didn't have bloody stools over the weekend, making the cold hypothesis more tenable than the allergy one. She suggested going back on the Similac. At one point, she and Dr. Tsai had said that once we finished up the box of the Similac Human Milk Fortifier, we could then buy the regular Similac formula in the stores and use that as the fortifier (even though it was designed as a formula and not as an additive to breast milk). Well, I compared the Neocate to the contents of the Similac Human Milk Fortifier and the Similac Formula and found that the Similacs were not comparable when it came to important things like calcium. In fact, the Neocate does a little bit better than the Similac Formula, so why switch? The Similac Human Milk Fortifier, however, has about 11 times the calcium content as the Neocate. Jill wasn't aware of those differences. So she was going to talk to Dr. Tsai about getting us additional milk fortifier through the Similac hospital representative. She said something to me about how I probably knew more about the contents than she did. This isn't the first time that a medical professional has told me that. Sigh. I really wish that the medical professionals knew more than I did about these things. It doesn't instill a whole lot of confidence, because I am not medically trained (I just happen to read a lot because this is important).

In our discussion, I asked her how many milligrams of calcium Henry needed each day. The recommendation for his weight is somewhere between 800 mg and 1200 mg. But, that's based on formula babies, we think. Breast milk content from mothers in the USA ranges somewhere between 200 per day and 300 mgs per day. Why the discrepancy between breast milk and the RDA of calcium? Because breast milk absorbs better than does formula in the babies' digestive systems. What is unclear is whether adding fortifier to the breast milk changes the absorption of the calcium in the breast milk. In sum, Jeff and I are designing Henry's diet plan. We're checking in with the professionals to see what they have to say, but I think that there are no clear answers.

On Monday, Henry weighed 9 lbs 9 ozs.

Nurse Michael called on Monday. He had talked with Dr. Bianchi (pediatrician), who had decided to discharge Henry from the weekly nursing appointments. Michael said that he had mentioned to Dr. Bianchi that Henry was developmentally delayed. I was very calm but wondering what the heck he was talking about. I asked him what he meant. He said, "Don't you remember when we talked last time about Henry and you said he wasn't scooting yet. I told you that he should be scooting around now." I just said OK. And, let it slide. I have enough to worry about at the moment. I think that he's forgetting that Henry's adjusted age is two months old. Yes, he was born over 5.5 months ago, but gestationally, he just a two month old! Development is supposed to be measured based on their gestational age. I went to the message boards to ask other mothers when their babies started scooting around the floor...and several people confirmed my suspicions that babies don't scoot that early (preemie or full-term). I mean, Henry can move a few inches if he's so inclined. I saw him turn his body 90 degrees when he was in the crib once. And, he's moved a couple inches on the floor, but he is by no means "scooting" in any consistent fashion. Dr. Tsai seemed pleased with his push ups at the last appointment.

If Henry is like other preemies, he will probably have some delays, hopefully not permanent ones. I was a 33-weeker and was delayed when it came to sitting, crawling, and walking. I was able to pull myself to a standing position around 14 months. In comparison, my sister Carolyn (who was a full-term baby) was able to pull herself to a standing position at 5.5 months. She was a rather unusual child (pure muscle)...way ahead physically on everything. My upper body strength, on the other hand, was on the very weak side of normal until about junior high when I finally caught up and did well in tennis. So I know that delays can happen. On a funny side note, while Carolyn was very athletic, it took her forever to learn how to swim because she couldn't float (without body fat, she sunk like a rock!).

On Tuesday, Henry weighed 9 lbs 9.5 ozs. My mom came over in the afternoon. I had a meeting at school. My dad arrived in the evening. They both took care of Henry, while Jeff and I went to see Avenue Q, one of our favorite musicals. We saw the original cast on Broadway. The traveling version was good.

Jeff took the first night shift. Henry actually slept almost three hours straight at one point during the night! Nothing short of miraculous. When we switched shifts, Henry had another apnea spell on my watch. I fell asleep holding him. He was asleep too. The alarm woke us both up.

On Wednesday, Henry weighed 9 lbs 14 ozs. My mom came in the afternoon on Wednesday, and my dad came in the evening. We had a nice walk Wednesday evening. It was so nice outside that we sat outside on our porch and listened to Big Bad VooDoo Daddy until my dad arrived.






I went to sleep around 9:30PM. I got up around 11:30PM. Henry had been screaming for "La" (milk), and Jeff was too slow (defined by Henry as any demand that isn't fulfilled within 30 seconds). Jeff had felt good in terms of energy, so he continued watching Henry until 3:35AM and got me up. Unfortunately, Henry didn't sleep much at all during the night.

I talked with Jill either Wednesday or Thursday. Basically, she and Dr. Tsai agreed that continuing the Similac Human Milk Fortifier was the way to go. We don't need to continue the 24 cal approach if Henry's gaining weight so readily with 22 cals. We can also skip the occasional fortification and sometimes give him Neocate instead of Similac Human Milk Fortifier as the fortifier. Dr. Tsai got us another box of the Similac, which is great given the expense.

This morning, we had a nice walk. We continue to walk with Henry every morning and evening. I weighed Henry at 9 lbs 14 ozs...no gain, but considering that his last gain was HUGE, an occasional no gain is just fine.

Henry and I had a good time playing this morning. I introduced him to some new toys. He smiled and cooed. He's expanding his vocal range to include a lot of new vowel sounds. "I" was his first vowel sound (he started saying "Hi" a few weeks ago...it isn't consistent, and he certainly doesn't know what the word means, but it is very cute).

That's about it. My mom is here now with Henry.

Chunky Monkey

Despite receiving a lower dose of calories through the new fortifier change (22 cal using Similac Human Milk Fortifier vs. 24 cal using Neocate), Henry continues to gain weight at an impressive pace. On Saturday, he weighed 9 lbs 4.5 ozs. And, this morning (Sunday), we weighed 9 lbs 8 ozs! I don't quite understand how he is still gaining weight at such a fast pace. I thought it would slow down. I'm a little concerned that I won't be able to keep up with his demands.

On Friday, Grandma came over in the afternoon. I can't really remember much about Friday night. I think that we went for our usual evening dog walk.

On Saturday, we went for our morning walk. When we got back, we changed Henry into one of his very cool Gap outfits that Michele Leonhart got him. We are excited that he is big enough to wear some very stylish threads.

Henry has received two super cute blankets that were made for him. The one pictured below was made by Mary Stephenson. Henry was very smiley until I pulled out the camera. He would smile until the exact moment when the flash went off, making for some hilarious faces.






Patti Galvez made him a quilt, which was really neat. I think, however, that we are going to wait a few more weeks before using either Mary or Patti's gifts on a regular basis. I want Henry's reflux to subside just a tad because they are really nice pieces.

Jeff was going to take Henry over to my parents' house in the afternoon. But we received some sad news before we left. Henry's great grandmother had passed away (my dad's mother) in her sleep. She was 88 years old. During the last few months, she had trouble with her memory in general, but she always asked my dad about Henry and said that she'd been praying for him. I had hoped that she would get to see Henry before passing away. Henry has been so fragile that we haven't taken him out, except to doctors appointments and my parents' house (on occasion). Henry has gotten a lot stronger the past few weeks. Although we still need to keep him away from people in general, I wanted my grandmother to see him. But such was not the case. In any event, my grandmother lived a full life and left this world from her house (which is where she wanted to be).

I went outside in the afternoon and found a lizard trapped in the fence. I stopped Marley from going after him. He (or she) was caught in the wire that Jeff put at the base of the fence to discourage snakes from entering the dog yard. I took over Henry duty, so that Jeff could rescue the lizard. In the last few years, Jeff has developed a fascination with the lizards around here. There are many different types. He got a good picture of the lizard before he cut the fence to release him.

Jeff put Henry in his swing in the afternoon. We went for a walk around dusk. Grandpa came over in the evening to hold Henry. Henry had the largest vomit to date. It was colossal. Henry has been snuffling for a couple days. I've been sneezing on occasion, which started a couple days before Henry started sneezing. We are hoping that it isn't a cold (we know one of our neighbors is sick with one). I come into contact with a lot of students, which means lots of potential for sickness. It could be allergies. The air has been dirty the past week. Or, it could be a reaction to the Similac.

Before our walk this morning, Henry had another huge vomit. We've decided to stop the Similac for now. We really want to use it because it has about 7-8 times more calcium than does the Neocate. But the Similac has cow's milk and soy proteins in it. If Henry gets better, it doesn't necessarily prove that the Similac is the problem. If it is a cold, colds do get better. We'll talk to Dr. Tsai on Monday to figure out what we should do.

Other than that, we gave Henry a bath this morning. He was very good about being washed. We are impressed with his weight gain. Hopefully, he'll start getting longer in the next few weeks.

Good New, Bad News

Jeff put Henry in his crib last night before going to bed. I took the first shift. While I was pumping, the alarms went off. By the time that I got to the crib, the alarm had stopped. I looked at the monitor, thinking it was yet another "loose connection," but it had registered the episode as an apnea spell, meaning that the alarm went off after Henry had stopped breathing for 20 seconds. It took me five beeps to get to the room, which is probably about 5 seconds. So that's approximately 25 seconds of not breathing. The good news is that he got out of the episode himself; I didn't have to stimulate him. The bad news, of course, is that we haven't had the alarms go off in over a month, and this one threw us for quite a loop. It is frustrating to feel that we've made progress but then realize that Henry is still fragile in many ways.

I had a mirror and flashlight, which I used to check Henry's color without disturbing him. His lips looked pink, which was good. So I let him continue to sleep. He slept in the crib for about an hour and a half, which is a record. I fed him a bottle between 2-3AM. He wasn't the slightest bit tired, but I put him in his crib anyway. We are trying to not play with him at night, so he eventually gets adjusted to the idea that night time is for resting. I turned on one of his musical toys, which he liked. He spent about an hour cooing and listening to music. Around 3:30AM, I got Jeff up for our shift change. Henry was hungry again, so I fixed him a bottle before handing him over to Jeff. I pumped and then went to bed a little after 4AM. Jeff got me up at 7AM for our walk. Henry only slept 20 minutes during Jeff's shift.

Nurse Michael came over around 8:30AM. He measured his pulse-ox with oxygen supplementation and without. Without oxygen, Henry's saturation levels were between 87% and 92%. With oxygen, they were between 93% and 99%. I asked Michael if he had called Dr. Bianchi's office when Henry's saturation levels had dipped to 84% two weeks ago. He had. So it looks like Bianchi's nurses dropped the ball and failed to get back to us. Luckily, Henry's color looked fine that weekend, but I really wish they were more proactive and followed through on things.

Henry weighed 9 lbs 3.5 ozs on Michael's scale. The previous week, he had weighed 8 lbs 5 ozs. So that is a huge, huge weight gain for the week.

After Michael left, we tried putting Henry on an exercise ball (recommended by Judith and several people on various websites). It is supposed to be more gentle than being flat on the floor on one's tummy. Although we hold him, he has to use his muscles somewhat to balance. The only thing it seems to have done is help Henry throw up. At least he didn't yell too much. We'll keep trying.








Grandpa is holding Henry at the moment. I'm off to write an article review.

Two Months Old (Age Adjusted)

Today, Henry is 2 months old (age adjusted). In the future, we plan on celebrating both his birth certificate birthday and his gestational age birthday. If Henry had gone to term, he would have been two months old today. Developmentally, that's how old he is.

Jeff got me up at 4:30AM, so that he could get some work done. That meant that I had slept a little over 4 hours last night. In our new world, that's a great deal of sleep. Jeff got to sleep three hours earlier in the evening. Yea!

We went for our early morning walk. It was a nice morning. It is getting a bit cool though, so we are making use of Henry's new sock supply (courtesy of Aunt Erin).








Henry was super smiley this morning. He broke the 9 lbs mark. He weighed 9 lbs 0.5 ozs!

Henry is getting more attentive to sounds these days. We've known that he can hear. He passed his hearing test in the NICU (which is by no means a definitive test of hearing). We noticed yesterday that he is turning his head in the direction of sounds. On one of the walks yesterday, I was beside Jeff, who was carrying Henry. When I spoke, Henry turned his head in my direction. I read one book that said babies were supposed to do this by 1 month. This of course concerned me because Henry wasn't doing this by 8-weeks let alone 1 month. Dr. Tsai said that she'd expect it at 4 months of age, when we talked to her Tuesday. We were pleased when Henry started doing this yesterday. As we were looking over Henry in his crib this morning (he managed to spend about 10 minutes in his crib), Henry, who had been looking at his daddy, turned his head toward me when I spoke.

We had an appointment with Henry's secondary pulmonologist, Dr. Morales. Henry's pediatrician doesn't give the much needed Synagis shot, and Henry's pulmonologist at the Wilmot Clinic doesn't give it either. So, we were referred to Dr. Morales. My mom went with me to the appointment. Out of all our doctors' appointments, this one seemed more perfunctory than the others, so we decided that Jeff should skip it, rather than having to take time from work. Basically, the goal of today's appointment was to get approval for the Synagis shots. As we've mentioned before, these shots are very expensive. The insurance companies require certain criteria be met. Henry met several of the criteria: (1) he is less than a year old and born before 35 weeks...way before 35 weeks, (2) he has BPD or chronic lung disease, and (3) he is on oxygen. Both my mom and I really liked Dr. Morales. She was very thorough, yet gentle, with Henry.

We also liked the office staff there as well. It is rare that I give rave reviews to medical office staff (although I really do like Shawn, Dr. Bianchi's assistant). The staff at Dr. Morales' office were kind and organized (a nice combination). They weighed him at 9 lbs 3 ozs and said he was 20.5" long. Weight can be a variable thing from scale to scale. We are pleased that in tracking his weight, the trend is going upward at a nice pace.

We have an appointment on November 2nd for Henry's first Synagis shot. Synagis is not a vaccine. It is a shot full of antibodies given once a month. Preemies miss out on the transference of antibodies from mother to baby during the last trimester. The Synagis shot gives these antibodies that specifically fight off RSV. It isn't a complete preventative solution, but it significantly reduces the RSV risk. In adults, RSV comes across like a cold (it is a seasonal virus). 125,000 babies are hospitalized with RSV each year. In preemies, RSV is particularly harmful because the airways inside of preemies are smaller and tighter than in full-term babies, even when you correct for their gestational age. The virus clogs up the airways, which can be fatal. According to the literature, around 10 times more infants die from RSV each year than from the flu.

The RSV virus lives up to six hours on surfaces (longer than cold viruses). It is easily spread by breathing, sneezing, coughing, kissing, and touching. This is why Henry can't have contact with a lot of people and that his doctors recommend only caretakers spend time with him. A lot of times, people don't realize that they are carrying the virus. And then it is too late. A lot of doctors say that preemies such as Henry shouldn't have much contact with others for 1-2 years. Hopefully, we'll be able to have our friends over to the house by May (with strict hand washing procedures in place, of course). RSV season will be over by then.

Henry had fun in his bassinet this afternoon. He likes looking at the mobile and trying to hit the feet of his moose. I showed him his toy dog Spunky today (a gift from Talia and Scott). Spunky barks when you squeeze him. Henry found this very amusing.

Spunky's barking scared the heck out of our LabraPitt Roger (at least we think that Roger is half Labrador/half Pitt Bull...he's a pound puppy, so who knows for sure). Roger is a rather sensitive dog (he had a rough life prior to living at Club Kenski-Anicker and was pulled from his prior home). I think that he'll get used to Spunky eventually.

We decided it was time for another picture of Henry with Frost the Bull (Henry's first toy). The first picture was taken May 29. The second was taken today.










Grandpa came over this evening to hold Henry while the Diamondbacks were on. Henry is getting a lot of exposure to baseball these days.

Henry is with his daddy right now, who is watching the Discovery Channel. I think that I'm headed to bed. Tomorrow, nurse Michael will be coming for the last time. Other than that, it should be a relatively peaceful day. My parents will be coming over so that I can get some work done.

Fortifier Change

Today Henry had another couple of appointments. This is a busy week, 5 appointments. He saw Dr. Hassan, the GI specialist in the morning. We had some stool samples that were tested for microscopic blood that would indicate if he is having an allergic reaction to the old breast milk we were feeding him that was produced when Kate was eating soy and dairy. Kate and I had seen something in his stool we thought was blood and had stopped giving him the old breast milk. To our great surprise there was no blood! So it is possible that Henry is not allergic to soy and dairy and that it was only the fortifier that we were using when we left the nicu that caused the problem.

This opens the door for our next step in the feeding game. We are going to start giving him the similac fortifier which is what he was receiving in the nicu. The reason to make this switch is that it has much higher calcium content than other fortifiers. Henry needs to grow and increase his bone density which is what makes this so important. The concern was that it contains dairy and soy so if he was allergic to those things obviously he would not be able to tolerate it. We are going to give him this new fortifier and go back to Dr. Hassan with some more samples in a few weeks. If at that time he is still clear of blood possibly we will resume giving him old breast milk that contains dairy and soy or Kate will resume eating dairy and soy.

After we came home from that appointment it wasn't long before Judith from the Blake Foundation showed up. This was her first visit. She is evaluating Henry and going to be getting him enrolled in the various government programs that help monitor and aid children that are at risk for disabilities. She will be back in a week or two with an occupational/physical therapist who will evaluate Henry and give us exercises and tips for his physical development.

In the paperwork it was rather surprising how many programs there are for children. I believe there were about 7-10 different government programs that could potentially be involved with Henry. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, efficiency isn't what government is known for. I think the recent debate about the schip program demonstrates the inability of politicians to say no to programs to help children, despite their merits or lack thereof. No one wants to be branded child haters.

Besides the doctor and social worker visits it was a fairly typical day. Kate weighed Henry at 8lbs 15.5 oz early in the day. He had an active day bowel movement wise and so Kate weighed him later in the day and he was 8lbs 14.5oz.

Grandma visited in the afternoon, catching the end of the visit from Judith. Kate was able to get some grading done and I got some sleep. Grandpa visited in the morning and the evening. Henry missed his walk in the morning because I let Kate sleep a little later and then I had some work to do. We did go for a walk around sunset. He actually stayed awake for the whole walk which is rather unusual.

We took Henry off his oxygen for a few hours this evening. It has been a major pain trying to get the cannula to stay in his nose properly. One reason why is that his cheeks are now much chubbier. So when he lays on the side of his face the cheeks can squeeze and move which causes the cannula to move.

We still have not heard any progress from the pulminologist regarding the study that is to be done on his oxygen saturation's. I guess I need to make yet another phone call to the pulminology nurse to harass her. I want him off the oxygen in the worst way and getting jerked around by the pulminologist at this point is very frustrating.

Tomorrow we get to go to a second pulminonlogist so he can be evaluated for the Synegis shot. This is to protect him from RSV which could be devastating to his little system if he caught it. Of course our pulminologist and our pediatrician don't give the shot for some reason which is why we have to go to a second pulminologist. Just what he needs, to be exposed to yet another germ infested doctors office. We are supposed to keep him isolated with exposure to as few people as possible. Since he has been home it has been a constant parade of medical people through our house and constant visits to doctors offices. So we can't have friends and family over but he can go hang out in every doctors waiting room from here to Mexico. Annoying.

He has been sleeping better, as Kate has mentioned. However, we still aren't able to get him to sleep any amount of time in his crib. Yesterday after we came home from the doctor he slept for quite a while in his car seat. It has been suggested by others that the car seat is a good place to put a kid with reflux because they sit upright. So tonight I'm testing the car seat as a possible alternative to the crib, at least for now. It is nice because I can have him near me wherever I go but don't have to hold him. That leaves my hands free to do important things like type up this blog or put the dishes away. I have the car seat connected to a stroller which can carry the oxygen which makes things even better. We'll see how this goes. So far it is working fairly well. Hopefully I can get some sleep with this setup.

Push Ups

On Sunday, Henry spent the day at my parents' house. He ate and slept. He's becoming a good sleeper during the day. He still won't sleep in a crib. As soon as you try to move him, he wakes up and fusses. He gets held 95% of the day.

On Monday, we went for our usual morning walk. Henry wore his new hat. Grandpa came over in the morning. The plummer came early, which was great. He replaced a pressure valve, which fixed our problem. We can now take showers without having to turn off the water to the toilets, etc.

Henry weighed 8 lbs 12 ozs. That was a 3.5 oz gain!

Grandma came over in the afternoon. Grandpa decided to come back in the evening, while I was at work. Henry had a huge eating day. He broke his previous record by leaps and bounds, eating 824 mls! That's around 27.5 ounces! Quite a lot for a baby that isn't 9 lbs yet.

Jeff and I gave Henry a bath. He tolerated it well (even the shampooing, which has been his least favorite part of the bath lately). When we went to put him in an outfit, we discovered that he had outgrown it. He was unable to extend his legs fully in it! We were pleased that he has outgrown something!

On my food front, I had a few bites of a soup with chicken stock in it on Sunday. Had half a cup of soup with chicken pieces (really small ones) yesterday. I'm going to try to eat some chicken some time this week. Not looking forward to it, but without being able to eat soy or dairy, I'm out of luck. As I mentioned before, I have been eating 80 grams of protein, but getting it through eggs, beans, rice, grains, and nuts has meant a huge increase in my fat intake. I've been eating almonds (high in protein) and sunflower seeds...I just wish I actually liked eating them (I know most people do). They are quite high in fat. So, chicken is in my future. :(

Henry slept a lot today (Tuesday). He didn't eat that much. But considering yesterday's huge intake, this wasn't a surprise. We took him for his walk in the morning. He was a little fussy. Seemed hungry but then didn't eat much. We did a little tummy time. He had done really well on his tummy earlier in the morning when he was on my chest (an easier angle for him than being on his tummy flat on the floor). He was really working his arm muscles. Tummy time on the floor was OK. It didn't last long.









Henry vomited quite a bit this morning. He hadn't vomited much this past week (except for some projectile vomit over the weekend...yesterday, I think). We were getting used to normal baby spit up and were hoping that he'd be ready to get off the Prevacid, but I think that he still has reflux, such that the medicine is still necessary for now.

This morning, he weighed 8 lbs 14.5 ozs! Another big increase!

We had an appointment at the Developmental Clinic today with Dr. Tsai and Jill the nutritionist. During check-in, the nurse weighed him at 8 lbs 14 ozs. He was 20 inches in length and has a head circumference of 37.3 cm.

We got Dr. Tsai up-to-date on Henry's diet. Dr. Tsai was disappointed that the old breast milk didn't work out. We'll get confirmation tomorrow (from Dr. Hassan) about whether or not there was really blood in his stool. The nutritionist and Dr. Tsai were happy that I'm willing to eat chicken, while I'm breast feeding. They were both hoping it wouldn't come to that. They were very pleased with Henry's weight gain: an average of 42 grams per day since Henry's last visit with them. That's above average (quite a bit above average, which is usually 30 grams per day). I was a little concerned that he's gaining weight too fast, but they said it was fine. He's so small that he needs to pack it on for now.

Dr. Tsai did a quick check of Henry. She put him on his tummy. He wasn't thrilled but ended up doing the best push up we'd ever seen him do. He used his arms very well. I was pleased that he didn't lock them (which is a way that babies "cheat" on making their developmental mile stones). Henry was truly using the arm muscles to their capacity. I think that Dr. Tsai was surprised. Henry will be 2 months gestationally on Thursday. So far, Henry is physically doing what a 2 month old baby should be doing, despite being on the tiny side of things. That doesn't mean he won't have developmental delays in the future. But for now, he is doing well. Jeff and I were really proud of his accomplishment today.

My mom came over to the house this evening. And, Henry is with his Grandpa now.

Gaining Weight

Henry has slept more than usual during the day as of late, but he still doesn't sleep at night. He refuses to sleep in his crib. The longest that he's slept there is maybe half-an-hour on a great night.

Grandpa came over on Friday morning to hold Henry. Grandma came over in the afternoon. This gave me time to work on my course. I had to create a handout for my students because several of them have problems with basic synonyms. In class, we went through some z score problems where the goal was to figure out what percentage of people had scores lower than a given person based on that person's z score. Well, this week's homework assignment used the phrase "below" rather than "lower than," and not just one person, but several people have had problems with this interchange of phrase. Oye. I don't think that the American educational system is doing too well. But enough said about that.

During the day, I tried to get Henry to do some tummy time. I set him up on our dining room table, hoping that he'd feel better on his tummy if he could look at me. Well, he feel asleep. But this did provide a good opportunity for Henry to pose with his new coin 2007 coin collection from Uncle Jim.

On Friday, Henry weighed 8 lbs 5 ozs.

A person from the water department came over to look at our water meter. Long story short. For several days now, we have very little water pressure in the house. In order to take a shower or run the dishes, you have to turn off all of the water to the toilets. It has made life inconvenient. Last week, it was termite week. This week, it was plumbing. The water department says that there's a problem on our side of the meter (like 1 foot on our side of the meter), so we have to fix it ourselves. Jeff called a plumber. We hope they'll came out tomorrow.

On Saturday, Henry weighed 8 lbs 7.5 ozs. We went over to his grandparents' house in the afternoon. He slept and ate all afternoon. Jeff and I took a nap in Aunt Erin's old room.

After our walk this morning (Sunday), Henry weighed 8 lbs 8.5 ozs. He continues to do an excellent job at gaining weight.

On Tuesday, we reintroduced Henry to some frozen breast milk that was pumped when I was consuming dairy and soy. This was our test to see if Henry's allergic reaction was really a dairy/soy allergy or if it was just a reaction to the particular fortifiers that he'd been put on when he came home. Based on Henry's diaper this morning, we think that he does have an allergy to the cow's milk proteins in the milk. It wasn't obviously bloody. But we think that we detected some spots that, when tested, will show up as microscopic blood. We've taken samples and have put them on slides given to us by Dr. Hassan. We'll hand them over to Dr. Hassan on Wednesday. In the meantime, we've stopped giving Henry the old milk. Luckily, we did this test via the frozen milk rather than contaminating me (via me eating dairy), which would have ruined my supply for two weeks. I haven't eaten meat yet. I've been very careful to get at least 80 grams of protein per day through a wide variety of grains, legumes, rice, and eggs. And, I have been taking pills with fish oil in them for a while now. But, I am probably going to eat some meat this week. Jeff is going to start by getting some soups made with chicken stock.

Jeff took Henry over to my parents about an hour ago. I'm spending the day writing an article review, grading, and preparing my lecture for tomorrow.

This coming week is filled with doctors appointments. Tuesday: Dr. Tsai for development. Wednesday morning: Dr. Hassan for GI check. Wednesday afternoon: Development therapy workup with Judith from the Blake Foundation. Thursday: Pulmonary check-up to see if Henry will qualify for the synagis shots (this one is a no brainer, but we have to go through the bureaucracy in order to qualify).