Henry had a bad day. He woke up around 4:15AM and drank 55 mls of his bottle. Not a good sign. Usually, his first bottle of the morning is his best. Henry's nanny Veronica came over at 7:30AM. Around 8AM, Jeff called Dr. Bianchi's office about the diaper with the red stain, and I sent Cuyler an email about Henry's bottle strike. Henry was very quiet all day. He slept a lot and didn't eat or play much. Veronica said that he seemed very lethargic in comparison to Tuesday. It was clear that he wasn't feeling well.
Jeff and I took him to see Dr. Bianchi in the early afternoon. He was weighed at 15 lbs 8 ozs. He had a diaper that looked slightly pinkish...not as bad as last night. Dr. Bianchi said that he didn't think that it was blood; he thought it was "brick dust" urine, meaning that the urine contained a lot of crystals, probably resulting from dehydration. This hardly came as a surprise to Jeff and me. We had said at our last visit that Henry wasn't drinking his bottles. The question remains: Why isn't Henry drinking his bottles? We hung around the doctor's office while we waited for Henry to produce a urine specimen. I wasn't holding my breath on this one, as Henry probably hadn't had more than 5 ozs toward his daily intake (that's really, really low). While waiting in the waiting room for Henry to urinate, Henry threw up all over Jeff. It is a bit of a mystery where Henry got so much liquid to throw up; he had eaten a bowl of avocado puree made with Good Start formula around 10AM or so (about 4 hours earlier). The projectile vomit splattered all over Jeff's shoulder, down his back, on the chair, wall, and floor. I'm not sure that even our beloved Hershel, our cat who died in May 2006, could have done better...and he was the King of Spew. After it was clear that Henry wasn't going to pee on command, we left the doctor's office and went to my parents' house (with bag still attached to Henry). Around 6PM, Henry did produce a little something, very dark in color, which suggests dehydration. My mom is going to drop it off at the pediatrician's office tomorrow. He will analyze it to rule out infection as a possible cause.
When we came back home, I found a message from Cuyler on our answering machine. She gave us her home telephone number. I gave her a call. She thinks that it is something medical. She said that if babies suddenly loose their suck reflex, it happens 2-3 months (when the sucking mechanism hasn't been finalized). But at 5.5 months, Henry should have it down (and he did until recently). She suspects that something made (or is making) Henry feel ill. When he gets picky about food, we constantly offer him food to see if he'll take it. Then, he gets into a refusal cycle and begins to associate feeling crappy with eating (so he stops eating). Two things are going on: (1) Henry not feeling well, and (2) Henry developing behavioral problems with eating.
Until recently, Henry hasn't been acting ill. But he has been much fussier in general. Jeff and I were sick last week, either food poisoning or stomach virus. Just tonight, I'm feeling queasy again. Did Henry finally catch something too? Alternatively, he may be having an allergic reaction to one of the foods we introduced, and we didn't catch that he was having problems with it. I assumed that if he was having problems with food, he would: (a) break into a rash, (b) throw up, (c) have a bloody stool, or (d) sneeze and/or cough. He has sneezed on occasion, but we haven't been able to link it with any foods. Plus, we had a lot of rain the last week, so it is going to be hard to tell food allergies from air allergies.
There is one food that we think may be contributing to Henry not feeling well. It doesn't totally explain the downward trend in his eating, but it may explain the acute problems over the last couple days. A couple weeks ago, we had given Henry Nestle Good Start formula in some small amounts. It is a cow's milk-based formula, but it contains mainly whey and not the casein, which is what is usually associated with infant stomach problems. Then, we introduced quite a bit more of it two days ago, both as supplemental bottles (to breast milk) and in the making of avocado puree yesterday and the day before. Given Henry's history, we are stopping the Good Start immediately.
Unfortunately, the increase in Good Start (although he had had it before) coincides with our introduction of avocados. So, for the time being, we are suspending avocados from the food list. It is much less likely for an infant to have an avocado allergy than a milk allergy. Until things get better for Henry, we have to go back to basics and then try foods again (although I don't think that we'll try anything cow's milk based for a while).
Cuyler made quite a few suggestions. First, we will not offer the bottle in any time span less than 2 hours long (breaking the offer-refusal cycle). Second, we are switching up the bottles, so that he doesn't feel like we are offering him the same thing that he has been refusing. Jeff gave Henry milk out of an Avent bottle tonight. Cuyler had suggested that we find someone else to give him his feeds so that it would be completely different, but that just doesn't seem realistic for us. Jeff did wear a hat to change things up. Third, when we offer "solid" food, it is just soupy rice cereal and pears for now. Fourth, if we have to use formula, we are going to use the Neocate (probably when making the cereal, so that the nasty taste of Neocate will be masked a little bit). Fifth, we are going to try cup feeding. Cuyler is coming over tomorrow to show us some cup feeding techniques.
Jeff gave Henry 65 mls of breast milk when we got home tonight. The entire contents of Henry's stomach were projected out of his body shortly thereafter. He also had a very messy diaper. After that, Henry got fussy, because he was hungry. He ended up eating some rice cereal and drank 60 mls before going to sleep. Excluding the 65 mls he threw up, Henry had about 340 mls today (11.7 ozs)...not good at all.
Well, that's all for now. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
9 Months
Today Henry turned 9 months old, technically. I still see him as a 5 1/2 month old based on his adjusted age. Doctors and developmental specialists still want to consider him 9 months. The strangest phrase, which we hear over and over again, is that he will "catch up". That is, he will "catch up" to babies who were full term and born at the same time he was. I don't know why he is expected to "catch up" to babies who were conceived months earlier than he was and had the advantage of staying in the womb an appropriate amount of time. I'm happy that he has caught up to babies based on his adjusted age.
Our feeding problems continue. It wasn't quite as bad today but still pretty poor. He had less than 500ml's of breast milk, when he needs to be over 900. He had several rounds of solid food but that just doesn't make up for it. He has lost some weight and is now at 15lbs 7oz.
Tara, his Department of Developmental Disabilities care coordinator, called to tell us she can't find a physical therapist to do an evaluation of Henry through her department. Instead, she contacted the hospital that Henry was born at and they provide those services which will be covered by our insurance, hopefully. We are looking for an evaluation at this time but I don't think he has any special need of a therapist. Hopefully I'm right.
Tonight I found blood in his diaper that came from the front end, not the back end. We're not sure what this means. It could be dairy/soy allergies again. We'll call the pediatrician in the morning and see what we should do. It could be a good thing. If it can point us to what is going on with him these days that makes him not want to eat, then maybe we can get past it and he can resume growing again.
Overall he was very happy today. He had a couple of good naps in the morning. On his afternoon walk we stopped by our neighbor's house to drop off some treats for her dog who was turning 6 years old today. We ended up going in and she handed treats out to her 3 dogs and our 2. Roger almost got eaten by her big female hound dog when he strayed to close to her during treat time. I think Henry enjoys seeing new places.
Veronica took care of Henry in the morning. Grandma came by in the afternoon. Grandpa visited in the evening. Henry once again fell asleep on grandpa for a long time. He had a bath and a massage today. Rough life.
Our feeding problems continue. It wasn't quite as bad today but still pretty poor. He had less than 500ml's of breast milk, when he needs to be over 900. He had several rounds of solid food but that just doesn't make up for it. He has lost some weight and is now at 15lbs 7oz.
Tara, his Department of Developmental Disabilities care coordinator, called to tell us she can't find a physical therapist to do an evaluation of Henry through her department. Instead, she contacted the hospital that Henry was born at and they provide those services which will be covered by our insurance, hopefully. We are looking for an evaluation at this time but I don't think he has any special need of a therapist. Hopefully I'm right.
Tonight I found blood in his diaper that came from the front end, not the back end. We're not sure what this means. It could be dairy/soy allergies again. We'll call the pediatrician in the morning and see what we should do. It could be a good thing. If it can point us to what is going on with him these days that makes him not want to eat, then maybe we can get past it and he can resume growing again.
Overall he was very happy today. He had a couple of good naps in the morning. On his afternoon walk we stopped by our neighbor's house to drop off some treats for her dog who was turning 6 years old today. We ended up going in and she handed treats out to her 3 dogs and our 2. Roger almost got eaten by her big female hound dog when he strayed to close to her during treat time. I think Henry enjoys seeing new places.Veronica took care of Henry in the morning. Grandma came by in the afternoon. Grandpa visited in the evening. Henry once again fell asleep on grandpa for a long time. He had a bath and a massage today. Rough life.
Loving Avocados
Henry seemed to like Veronica. He flirted with her quite a bit. At lunch, Jeff, Henry, Marley, Roger, and I showed Veronica the neighborhood. Henry took a couple naps on Veronica's watch. Veronica came from 9-2PM today. She's going to come at 7:30AM tomorrow. I have to leave the house at 7:45AM or so.
In the afternoon, Grammy came over about 2 minutes after Veronica left. Henry loves to play with Grammy's hair. He gave Grammy a big sloppy kiss on the cheek. Grammy said it was the best one yet. I made Henry some avocado soup. He loved it. Ate the whole bowl and followed it up with some pears. In late afternoon, he fell asleep snuggled into Grammy's neck. Independent Henry hasn't done that for a while. At some point, I pulled out the laser pointer cat toy, which all of our cats go crazy over. I had Bitsy running around the room; Henry loves to watch her run. The laser toy is great. You can buy a professional laser pointer pen for presentations for $30-70, or get one at Petco for about $5. It's pretty much the same thing. Entertains cats who entertain babies. Incidentally, in other cat news, Jeff reported that Henry grabbed Bitsy leg this morning when she was tempting fate; Jeff intervened before Bitsy could retaliate. She's one to watch.
Early in the evening, we went for a walk and ran into Swani (Annie and Luke) and Yvonne (Chocolate, Banjo, and Precious). Henry likes watching the dogs run around. After the walk, he had a little bit of a bottle. Then, I made him some more avocados. He just about finished the whole bowl. I'm so pleased that he is taking to avocados so quickly. Dr. Bianchi said that we could introduce new foods after 4-5 days. Next on our list is sweet potatoes.
Henry still isn't drinking enough of his bottles. He drank around 405 mls today. He gets really upset if you try to put a bottle in his mouth at times, even if he looks hungry. I think that I'm going to have to call Cuyler (OT) tomorrow. Maybe she'll know what to do.
Jeff gave Henry a cloth picture book this evening. It has very colorful pictures in it. He really likes it.
Grandpa came over in the evening. Henry gave a demonstration of his rolling skills. He is doing a substantial amount of self-motivated tummy time these days. Grandpa commented on how Henry gets very focused on objects. For example, on Sunday, Henry really studied the orange tree in my parents' backyard when my dad took him outside. And, when he was lying on my parents' bed, he would look at the window and focus on the olive tree. Lately, he has been fascinated with a large plant in our living room. Maybe he'll want to run a nursery like his Grandpa Joe or become a landscaper like Uncle Chris when he grows up.
Henry fell asleep on Grandpa around 9PM. I suspect that means that he'll be getting up around 5:30AM.
Alright. I'm off to bed. I started having back spasms last night, had several throughout the day, and another one is just starting. Ouch.
In the afternoon, Grammy came over about 2 minutes after Veronica left. Henry loves to play with Grammy's hair. He gave Grammy a big sloppy kiss on the cheek. Grammy said it was the best one yet. I made Henry some avocado soup. He loved it. Ate the whole bowl and followed it up with some pears. In late afternoon, he fell asleep snuggled into Grammy's neck. Independent Henry hasn't done that for a while. At some point, I pulled out the laser pointer cat toy, which all of our cats go crazy over. I had Bitsy running around the room; Henry loves to watch her run. The laser toy is great. You can buy a professional laser pointer pen for presentations for $30-70, or get one at Petco for about $5. It's pretty much the same thing. Entertains cats who entertain babies. Incidentally, in other cat news, Jeff reported that Henry grabbed Bitsy leg this morning when she was tempting fate; Jeff intervened before Bitsy could retaliate. She's one to watch.
Early in the evening, we went for a walk and ran into Swani (Annie and Luke) and Yvonne (Chocolate, Banjo, and Precious). Henry likes watching the dogs run around. After the walk, he had a little bit of a bottle. Then, I made him some more avocados. He just about finished the whole bowl. I'm so pleased that he is taking to avocados so quickly. Dr. Bianchi said that we could introduce new foods after 4-5 days. Next on our list is sweet potatoes.Henry still isn't drinking enough of his bottles. He drank around 405 mls today. He gets really upset if you try to put a bottle in his mouth at times, even if he looks hungry. I think that I'm going to have to call Cuyler (OT) tomorrow. Maybe she'll know what to do.
Jeff gave Henry a cloth picture book this evening. It has very colorful pictures in it. He really likes it.
Grandpa came over in the evening. Henry gave a demonstration of his rolling skills. He is doing a substantial amount of self-motivated tummy time these days. Grandpa commented on how Henry gets very focused on objects. For example, on Sunday, Henry really studied the orange tree in my parents' backyard when my dad took him outside. And, when he was lying on my parents' bed, he would look at the window and focus on the olive tree. Lately, he has been fascinated with a large plant in our living room. Maybe he'll want to run a nursery like his Grandpa Joe or become a landscaper like Uncle Chris when he grows up.
Henry fell asleep on Grandpa around 9PM. I suspect that means that he'll be getting up around 5:30AM.
Alright. I'm off to bed. I started having back spasms last night, had several throughout the day, and another one is just starting. Ouch.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Henry's New Nanny
Henry's nanny started this morning. I have decided to write this blog entry mid-morning as a diversion from what I really want to do, which is just peek at Henry and give him a kiss on the cheek. I know that Veronica needs time to get to know Henry, and I suspect that at some level parents can be more of a hindrance than a help at figuring a baby's cues.
Yesterday, my mom took care of Henry in the morning, while I went to school. In the afternoon, we had an appointment with Dr. Bianchi, Henry's pediatrician. We are really concerned about Henry's eating habits. His caloric intake is down. Basically, Dr. Bianchi thought that Henry looked good. In regards to this eating habits, he wants us to wait and see what happens. Since Henry's last weighing at the doctor's office in December, he has gained weight (even though we know that he hasn't gained weight in over two weeks). He weighed 15 lbs 10 ozs. His length was 25.25 inches. His head circumference was 42.1 cm (nearly 0.8 cm less than at Dr. Hassan's office). Dr. Bianchi said that he'll probably "catch-up" by age two.
Henry had his polio booster shot before he left the office. He didn't flinch, peep, or cry. I've read that preemies have high pain tolerances.
Doctors and most preemie parents are obsessed with the idea that preemies should "catch-up" to their actual ages. There is a preemie message board that I frequent. I often get annoyed at the parents who are "freaking out" over their kids who are supposedly "developmentally delayed" because the parents refuse to recognize that development starts at conception, not when the baby pops out of the womb. I guess doctors mention the catch-up by age 2 thing a lot to pacify anxious parents. Jeff and I don't care whether or not Henry ever "catches up" with his actual age. What we want is for Henry to be on target with his adjusted age (when he should have been born). Tomorrow, Henry will be nine months old (actual).
When we were at the doctor's office, Sean, the medical assistant, said that we could fill out a developmental questionnaire. She said that Henry probably wouldn't do well on it b/c he was a preemie. At the top of the questionnaire, it said "Development 9 Months." So basically, we looked at a bunch of questions and surprise, surprise, Henry doesn't have the skills of a 9 month old. Henry doesn't wave "bye-bye" yet or pull himself to a stand. [Eye roll]. We should have been given the questionnaire for 5-6 month olds. That would have been appropriate. Apparently, Dr. Bianchi doesn't give the Denver scale until 9 months. His partner, Dr. Swanson, gives it to her patients from birth. Some people argue that in the early months, the testing isn't particularly informative.
In terms of evaluation, doctors are wedded to the chronological age that is listed on the birth certificate. They often consider preemies as "having problems" because they aren't "caught up" with their actual ages. Henry has had his share of legitimate problems, but I just wish the medical profession could separate out with greater clarity when there is a true problem versus the socially constructed problems of actual versus adjusted age. At least Henry's early intervention team (e.g., Tara and Cuyler) is on the same page as us and simply treats Henry by his adjusted age. And to be sure, Dr. Bianchi thinks that Henry is doing very well for a preemie. I just wish we could put the whole preemie aside and just talk about Henry as a 5.5 month old (for all purposes but vaccinations).
Incidentally, I strongly suspect that the reason preemies supposedly "catch up" to their actual ages by 2 years has nothing to do with suddenly making leaps in development. It has to do with the fact that there is so much variance in what kids do at that age. A preemie who was born 15 weeks early could look "normal" because there will be a lot of full-term kids who are late bloomers developmentally, making the preemie look OK.
So where does that leave us with Henry? Well, he is doing well with his new skills. We haven't been forcing any tummy time on him. He is rolling around so much that he is doing the tummy stuff on his own. He does better when he is the one who has made the choice to be on his stomach.
Food. I have no idea what to do with this kid. Jeff and I have already played the "wait and see" game. Concrete solutions would be nice. We did try avocado puree on Henry last night. He didn't mind it. It was time to add a new food. Our friend Jenny had mentioned giving avocados to her daughter. She gave me the instructions for it: 1 tbsp of avocado with 2 ozs formula (or breast milk in Henry's case) put in a blender. I bought a fantastic avocado (nice, ripe, and delicious). It was the first of Henry's foods that I have made from scratch (not including the breast milk of course). Avocados have good fats and lots of calories (things Henry needs, especially given his hunger strikes). Jenny recommended a book on making baby foods. She is the second friend of mine who has made her child's baby foods. Our friend Laura does it too. We'll see if Henry likes it again today.
That's all for now. The distraction has been long enough. Mother hen has to go check on her chick.
Yesterday, my mom took care of Henry in the morning, while I went to school. In the afternoon, we had an appointment with Dr. Bianchi, Henry's pediatrician. We are really concerned about Henry's eating habits. His caloric intake is down. Basically, Dr. Bianchi thought that Henry looked good. In regards to this eating habits, he wants us to wait and see what happens. Since Henry's last weighing at the doctor's office in December, he has gained weight (even though we know that he hasn't gained weight in over two weeks). He weighed 15 lbs 10 ozs. His length was 25.25 inches. His head circumference was 42.1 cm (nearly 0.8 cm less than at Dr. Hassan's office). Dr. Bianchi said that he'll probably "catch-up" by age two.
Henry had his polio booster shot before he left the office. He didn't flinch, peep, or cry. I've read that preemies have high pain tolerances.
Doctors and most preemie parents are obsessed with the idea that preemies should "catch-up" to their actual ages. There is a preemie message board that I frequent. I often get annoyed at the parents who are "freaking out" over their kids who are supposedly "developmentally delayed" because the parents refuse to recognize that development starts at conception, not when the baby pops out of the womb. I guess doctors mention the catch-up by age 2 thing a lot to pacify anxious parents. Jeff and I don't care whether or not Henry ever "catches up" with his actual age. What we want is for Henry to be on target with his adjusted age (when he should have been born). Tomorrow, Henry will be nine months old (actual).
When we were at the doctor's office, Sean, the medical assistant, said that we could fill out a developmental questionnaire. She said that Henry probably wouldn't do well on it b/c he was a preemie. At the top of the questionnaire, it said "Development 9 Months." So basically, we looked at a bunch of questions and surprise, surprise, Henry doesn't have the skills of a 9 month old. Henry doesn't wave "bye-bye" yet or pull himself to a stand. [Eye roll]. We should have been given the questionnaire for 5-6 month olds. That would have been appropriate. Apparently, Dr. Bianchi doesn't give the Denver scale until 9 months. His partner, Dr. Swanson, gives it to her patients from birth. Some people argue that in the early months, the testing isn't particularly informative.
In terms of evaluation, doctors are wedded to the chronological age that is listed on the birth certificate. They often consider preemies as "having problems" because they aren't "caught up" with their actual ages. Henry has had his share of legitimate problems, but I just wish the medical profession could separate out with greater clarity when there is a true problem versus the socially constructed problems of actual versus adjusted age. At least Henry's early intervention team (e.g., Tara and Cuyler) is on the same page as us and simply treats Henry by his adjusted age. And to be sure, Dr. Bianchi thinks that Henry is doing very well for a preemie. I just wish we could put the whole preemie aside and just talk about Henry as a 5.5 month old (for all purposes but vaccinations).
Incidentally, I strongly suspect that the reason preemies supposedly "catch up" to their actual ages by 2 years has nothing to do with suddenly making leaps in development. It has to do with the fact that there is so much variance in what kids do at that age. A preemie who was born 15 weeks early could look "normal" because there will be a lot of full-term kids who are late bloomers developmentally, making the preemie look OK.
So where does that leave us with Henry? Well, he is doing well with his new skills. We haven't been forcing any tummy time on him. He is rolling around so much that he is doing the tummy stuff on his own. He does better when he is the one who has made the choice to be on his stomach.
Food. I have no idea what to do with this kid. Jeff and I have already played the "wait and see" game. Concrete solutions would be nice. We did try avocado puree on Henry last night. He didn't mind it. It was time to add a new food. Our friend Jenny had mentioned giving avocados to her daughter. She gave me the instructions for it: 1 tbsp of avocado with 2 ozs formula (or breast milk in Henry's case) put in a blender. I bought a fantastic avocado (nice, ripe, and delicious). It was the first of Henry's foods that I have made from scratch (not including the breast milk of course). Avocados have good fats and lots of calories (things Henry needs, especially given his hunger strikes). Jenny recommended a book on making baby foods. She is the second friend of mine who has made her child's baby foods. Our friend Laura does it too. We'll see if Henry likes it again today.
That's all for now. The distraction has been long enough. Mother hen has to go check on her chick.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
A Day with the Grandparents
Henry spent today with Grandma and Grandpa. Jeff took him over to my parents in the morning. I wasn't feeling well. Picked up whatever Jeff had the other day. I couldn't eat, had the chills, and spent the day in bed.
Henry had an active day. My mom said that he didn't nap more than a 1/2 hour while he was there. He had two bowls of rice cereal with fruit. Wasn't a great milk drinker again today. Sigh.
We didn't get a chance to weigh him today. But considering that his calorie intake is about 2/3 of what it should be, I think that we already know the outcome.
Jeff picked up Henry and was home a little after 7PM. Henry was sound asleep in his carrier. When he woke up, Jeff got him to eat about 2 ounces. Then, I gave him some rice cereal and pears. We were going to give him a bath, but he fell asleep after he ate. His clothes were so messy that we had to change him. A rude awakening. Once he was put in a new, food-free outfit, he drank almost 2 more ounce of milk, and then he fell fast asleep.
My mom is coming over tomorrow to take care of Henry while I'm teaching. Veronica, Henry's nanny, is going to start on Tuesday. Tomorrow, we have Henry's wellness check at Dr. Bianchi's. We'll lay out our concerns about Henry's eating then.
Henry had an active day. My mom said that he didn't nap more than a 1/2 hour while he was there. He had two bowls of rice cereal with fruit. Wasn't a great milk drinker again today. Sigh.
We didn't get a chance to weigh him today. But considering that his calorie intake is about 2/3 of what it should be, I think that we already know the outcome.
Jeff picked up Henry and was home a little after 7PM. Henry was sound asleep in his carrier. When he woke up, Jeff got him to eat about 2 ounces. Then, I gave him some rice cereal and pears. We were going to give him a bath, but he fell asleep after he ate. His clothes were so messy that we had to change him. A rude awakening. Once he was put in a new, food-free outfit, he drank almost 2 more ounce of milk, and then he fell fast asleep.
My mom is coming over tomorrow to take care of Henry while I'm teaching. Veronica, Henry's nanny, is going to start on Tuesday. Tomorrow, we have Henry's wellness check at Dr. Bianchi's. We'll lay out our concerns about Henry's eating then.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Nanny Found
Henry went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for a couple hours, while Jeff and I took Marley, Roger, and Bitsy to the vets for check-ups. The vets' office is fairly close to where my parents live. Our appointment was at 11AM. We got there a little early, but didn't end up seeing the vet until 11:45AM. We didn't end up leaving there until 12:45PM or so. Grammy reported that Henry got very upset and fussy at one point. Digestive issues. It was hard to get him to drink his bottle. We are beginning to wonder if he is getting a little dehydrated now that he is eating solids (purees), but he isn't keeping up his liquid consumption. Something to discuss with Dr. Bianchi when Henry has his approximately 6 month wellness check on Monday (he's more like 5.5 months adjusted, but it is close). Henry weighed 15 lbs 9.5 ozs prior to going to the Grandparents' house today. He has been stuck around that weight for awhile.
Around 3PM, Veronica (nanny candidate three) came by the house for the second interview. She held Henry. We put him on the floor. He made a lot of noise and flirted with her a bit. We decided to make her an offer. We think that she is going to work out well. Her prior position was with a family that had 6 month old twins. And she has two girls of her own, 2 years and 6 years old. She is going to start next week, but it is going to be an abridged week (just a couple days for her to get the lay of the land). Then, the following week will start our routine of 30-33 hours per week.
In the late afternoon, Henry came outside with Jeff and watched me fill up the bird feeder with bird seed (something I haven't done in awhile). We had a bobcat that was hanging around a couple months ago. When I see the bobcat, I don't feed the birds (for some rather obvious reasons). Jeff, Henry, Marley, Roger, and I went for our evening walk. We ran into one of our neighbors who hadn't seen Henry since he was on oxygen. He gave her some very cute smiles.
We tried giving Henry a bottle in the evening, and he got incredibly upset. He sounded like he was in immense pain. Jeff tried feeding him. I tried feeding him. It ended up that he wanted his solid foods. A combination of rice cereal and pears calmed him down, and he crashed after eating. He woke up briefly to have 50 mls of milk. His milk total today was around 18 ounces again (not great). He fell asleep in my arms. I fell asleep holding him. Jeff transfered him to the crib around 10PM. I'm heading to bed now for an early night!
Around 3PM, Veronica (nanny candidate three) came by the house for the second interview. She held Henry. We put him on the floor. He made a lot of noise and flirted with her a bit. We decided to make her an offer. We think that she is going to work out well. Her prior position was with a family that had 6 month old twins. And she has two girls of her own, 2 years and 6 years old. She is going to start next week, but it is going to be an abridged week (just a couple days for her to get the lay of the land). Then, the following week will start our routine of 30-33 hours per week.
In the late afternoon, Henry came outside with Jeff and watched me fill up the bird feeder with bird seed (something I haven't done in awhile). We had a bobcat that was hanging around a couple months ago. When I see the bobcat, I don't feed the birds (for some rather obvious reasons). Jeff, Henry, Marley, Roger, and I went for our evening walk. We ran into one of our neighbors who hadn't seen Henry since he was on oxygen. He gave her some very cute smiles.
We tried giving Henry a bottle in the evening, and he got incredibly upset. He sounded like he was in immense pain. Jeff tried feeding him. I tried feeding him. It ended up that he wanted his solid foods. A combination of rice cereal and pears calmed him down, and he crashed after eating. He woke up briefly to have 50 mls of milk. His milk total today was around 18 ounces again (not great). He fell asleep in my arms. I fell asleep holding him. Jeff transfered him to the crib around 10PM. I'm heading to bed now for an early night!
Friday, January 25, 2008
Separation Anxiety
I noticed it yesterday. And Jeff noticed it today. Henry is beginning to have a little bit of separation anxiety when Jeff and I are out of the room. I wasn't expecting it to happen so soon. I had read that separation anxiety is most intense between 12-18 months, but it can appear as early as 6-7 months. Henry is 5.5 months adjusted. If I step into the kitchen to get Henry's bottle, he'll yell within 5 seconds of me leaving the room.
Henry started off strong with his eating this morning. The eating was slow from mid-morning on. He didn't drink even 20 ounces of milk today. He liked his bananas. He demonstrated great spitting abilities during breakfast. He decided to blow raspberries while he had bananas in his mouth. Such skills! My boy is very talented when it comes to spitting!
Spent a lot of the day on the floor. Around 10AM, Henry was on the floor in the middle of his blanket. I step into the other room to get the telephone. By the time I got back to the living room (I was gone 30 seconds), Henry had moved himself about six feet to the tile near the television. He was tipped on it, as if he was trying to roll, but the tile was preventing him from completing his move. Lesson learned: Henry can't crawl yet, but he is certainly mobile. No leaving the baby unattended for even 15 seconds. Henry wasn't upset or anything. He just was perplexed at not being able to roll over against the tiles.
Grammy came around 10:15AM or so. I took a shower and ran some errands (bank and grocery store). Tara came at 2PM. It looks like Henry will get a physical therapy evaluation in about three weeks when a PT has an open slot on her client list. Apparently, there are few PTs who are willing to work on the West side or South side of town. The West side is a bit out of the way for most folks. It isn't as populated as other parts of town. The South side has its fair share of sketchy areas. Given that a lot of NICU babies come from low income families, I would strongly suspect that a lot of them are from the South side. It is most unfortunate that therapists aren't willing to work in the areas that they are most needed, even when the government is wiling to pay for their services.
Henry showed Tara how he can flip on his back when he is put on his stomach. That was his main trick today. Jeff, Henry, Roger, Marley, and I went for our evening walk. I fed Henry some rice cereal and bananas in the evening. I put Henry in his bouncy seat, turned 180 degrees to put something on the bench, and turned back to Henry to find his caboose nearly hanging off the bouncy seat. Jeff saw the whole thing from the other side of the room. Apparently, Henry propelled his caboose into the air in one big thrust that nearly dragged him out of the chair. Oh my! Henry is so active. If he is giving Jeff and me a run for our money now, I can't even begin to imagine what the next few months are going to be like. Jeff and I are seriously going to have to start running a couple miles each day to get in shape to keep up with this child.
Grandpa visited in the evening. He played with Henry on the floor. Henry got a little grumpy around 8PM. He ate a little bit and then crashed.
We meet with nanny candidate three tomorrow. We've asked her to come to the house, so that we can see how she interacts with Henry. I'm assuming everything will be fine. We'll have her come a couple days next week when we can show her the lay of the land. This will give the investigation firm time to do a background check on her. If they give the OK, then we'll start her on 30 hours the following week. As we see it, the pluses of nanny candidate three are: (a) she has worked as a nanny for babies Henry's age (and was given a glowing evaluation by her previous employer), (b) she has kids of her own, (c) she lives on our side of town, (d) she has trained in massage therapy (something that we highly support), and (e) she seems like a nice person.
Henry started off strong with his eating this morning. The eating was slow from mid-morning on. He didn't drink even 20 ounces of milk today. He liked his bananas. He demonstrated great spitting abilities during breakfast. He decided to blow raspberries while he had bananas in his mouth. Such skills! My boy is very talented when it comes to spitting!
Spent a lot of the day on the floor. Around 10AM, Henry was on the floor in the middle of his blanket. I step into the other room to get the telephone. By the time I got back to the living room (I was gone 30 seconds), Henry had moved himself about six feet to the tile near the television. He was tipped on it, as if he was trying to roll, but the tile was preventing him from completing his move. Lesson learned: Henry can't crawl yet, but he is certainly mobile. No leaving the baby unattended for even 15 seconds. Henry wasn't upset or anything. He just was perplexed at not being able to roll over against the tiles.
Grammy came around 10:15AM or so. I took a shower and ran some errands (bank and grocery store). Tara came at 2PM. It looks like Henry will get a physical therapy evaluation in about three weeks when a PT has an open slot on her client list. Apparently, there are few PTs who are willing to work on the West side or South side of town. The West side is a bit out of the way for most folks. It isn't as populated as other parts of town. The South side has its fair share of sketchy areas. Given that a lot of NICU babies come from low income families, I would strongly suspect that a lot of them are from the South side. It is most unfortunate that therapists aren't willing to work in the areas that they are most needed, even when the government is wiling to pay for their services.
Henry showed Tara how he can flip on his back when he is put on his stomach. That was his main trick today. Jeff, Henry, Roger, Marley, and I went for our evening walk. I fed Henry some rice cereal and bananas in the evening. I put Henry in his bouncy seat, turned 180 degrees to put something on the bench, and turned back to Henry to find his caboose nearly hanging off the bouncy seat. Jeff saw the whole thing from the other side of the room. Apparently, Henry propelled his caboose into the air in one big thrust that nearly dragged him out of the chair. Oh my! Henry is so active. If he is giving Jeff and me a run for our money now, I can't even begin to imagine what the next few months are going to be like. Jeff and I are seriously going to have to start running a couple miles each day to get in shape to keep up with this child.
Grandpa visited in the evening. He played with Henry on the floor. Henry got a little grumpy around 8PM. He ate a little bit and then crashed.
We meet with nanny candidate three tomorrow. We've asked her to come to the house, so that we can see how she interacts with Henry. I'm assuming everything will be fine. We'll have her come a couple days next week when we can show her the lay of the land. This will give the investigation firm time to do a background check on her. If they give the OK, then we'll start her on 30 hours the following week. As we see it, the pluses of nanny candidate three are: (a) she has worked as a nanny for babies Henry's age (and was given a glowing evaluation by her previous employer), (b) she has kids of her own, (c) she lives on our side of town, (d) she has trained in massage therapy (something that we highly support), and (e) she seems like a nice person.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
How Do Single Parents Do It?
Thursday was a generally miserable day. As I mentioned yesterday, Jeff wasn't feeling well last night (Wednesday). He looked awful today (no offense, honey). He tried to call in sick at work, mentioning that he thought he had food poisoning, but he got loaded up with things that had to be done. So he spent the day working on the computer and then regurgitating in the bathroom every 1/2 hour or so. Lovely.
Because we weren't sure if Jeff had food poisoning or flu, we called my mom so that she wouldn't come over. She had been planning to spend the morning with Henry, which was going to give me time to work on my lectures, pay our bills, and do some other chores around the house. So I spent the day with Henry instead. I obviously love my son, but the change in plans really stressed me out. I truly need some blocks of time to work, which haven't been forthcoming in the last several months. The hour here and there just doesn't cut it.
Henry decided to refuse his bottles for most of the day. He wasted a lot of breast milk. Looked hungry. I'd get a bottle. Tried to put the bottle in his mouth and he'd breakdown in tears. Tried several types of nipples for the bottles. Didn't make any difference. And then the cycle would repeat itself.
Henry took several mini-naps throughout the day. He kicked Bitsy; she tried to attack him, but I intervened. By early evening, he'd only eaten something like 10 ounces or so of milk. I decided to break out the bananas in the hope that the novelty would encourage his appetite. Technically, I should have waited until Sunday to give him a new food, but the kid has to eat something. He liked the bananas. He ate the whole bowl, which was a mixture of bananas (about 1/2 baby jar), rice cereal (2 tbps), and some breast milk. Jeff went early in the evening. I started a fire in the fire place and gave Henry a massage. Then, I gave Henry a bath. I believe that it is the first time that I've given him a bath by myself. Jeff and I usually tag team. It's much easier with two people. We have our roles down like clockwork. But I handled things OK this evening. Henry is squeaky clean. He had a bottle after the bath. Because he was hungry and wasted a good deal of breast milk, I ended up having to mix some Nestle Good Start formula into the bottle with the remaining breast milk. Henry didn't mind. When all was said and done, Henry eventually ate about 21 ounces of milk today. That's about 35% less than what he should be eating. Perhaps it was stomach flu going around or something. Henry did throw up more than usual today.
Hopefully, Jeff and Henry will wake up tomorrow refreshed. Here's to a better day tomorrow. Today left me feeling drained. Perhaps only getting a couple hours of sleep two nights in a row also has something to do with that. I don't know how single parents do it. With that said, I'm headed to bed.
Because we weren't sure if Jeff had food poisoning or flu, we called my mom so that she wouldn't come over. She had been planning to spend the morning with Henry, which was going to give me time to work on my lectures, pay our bills, and do some other chores around the house. So I spent the day with Henry instead. I obviously love my son, but the change in plans really stressed me out. I truly need some blocks of time to work, which haven't been forthcoming in the last several months. The hour here and there just doesn't cut it.
Henry decided to refuse his bottles for most of the day. He wasted a lot of breast milk. Looked hungry. I'd get a bottle. Tried to put the bottle in his mouth and he'd breakdown in tears. Tried several types of nipples for the bottles. Didn't make any difference. And then the cycle would repeat itself.
Henry took several mini-naps throughout the day. He kicked Bitsy; she tried to attack him, but I intervened. By early evening, he'd only eaten something like 10 ounces or so of milk. I decided to break out the bananas in the hope that the novelty would encourage his appetite. Technically, I should have waited until Sunday to give him a new food, but the kid has to eat something. He liked the bananas. He ate the whole bowl, which was a mixture of bananas (about 1/2 baby jar), rice cereal (2 tbps), and some breast milk. Jeff went early in the evening. I started a fire in the fire place and gave Henry a massage. Then, I gave Henry a bath. I believe that it is the first time that I've given him a bath by myself. Jeff and I usually tag team. It's much easier with two people. We have our roles down like clockwork. But I handled things OK this evening. Henry is squeaky clean. He had a bottle after the bath. Because he was hungry and wasted a good deal of breast milk, I ended up having to mix some Nestle Good Start formula into the bottle with the remaining breast milk. Henry didn't mind. When all was said and done, Henry eventually ate about 21 ounces of milk today. That's about 35% less than what he should be eating. Perhaps it was stomach flu going around or something. Henry did throw up more than usual today.
Hopefully, Jeff and Henry will wake up tomorrow refreshed. Here's to a better day tomorrow. Today left me feeling drained. Perhaps only getting a couple hours of sleep two nights in a row also has something to do with that. I don't know how single parents do it. With that said, I'm headed to bed.
Lunatics
Wednesday was a strange day. My mom came at 7:45AM, because I had to get to work for morning meetings and then class. Before I left, Jeff checked his email and found that nanny candidate one had sent him a rather abrasive email. It threw us a little off guard. At the end of her interview, we had candidly told her that we were interviewing other people and that it would take a couple weeks before we had made a decision. Candidate one was the candidate who got weird when it came to money (specifically when I mentioned that we planned to pay social security). Well, her email to Jeff basically said that she wanted to know why we hadn't selected her for the position, to let us know that she got a job taking care of triplets for two surgeons who will be offering her 60 hours per week, and that we were ill-mannered for not informing her of our decision, and she hoped that our child would end up with better manners. Jeff hasn't responded yet. The tenor of the email was such that we want to phrase a response as delicately as possible. We wish that she didn't know where we live. After reading the email, words like "lunatic," "crazy," "crackpot," and "Oh my, how did this person even get into the running for being around my child" came to mind. As it is, we still haven't finalized our decision yet. We just got a second reference for candidate two. Candidate two and candidate three both seem promising. We didn't get weird vibes from either of them. It will be hard making a decision between the two. And, we know both of them need this job and the market is obviously tight right now. After seeing the crazy email, I am concerned about leaving my son in the hand's of a stranger. To heighten my anxiety, I witnessed a moment at work where a person seemed normal one minute and then made some very bizarre comments the next. It left me with a sense that the world isn't a safe place.
Over the past several months, Jeff and I have seen and felt the most beautiful sides of human nature. Amidst the most painful time in our lives when it was unclear whether or not Henry would make it, family, friends, friends of family, and acquaintances near and far prayed for Henry and were incredibly supportive (and still are today). Then, of course, there is Henry. We have had a unique opportunity at witnessing Henry's development. Part of Henry's development is, of course, affected by the environment we provide for him. But there is a large part of Henry that has little to do with us. My son is hard-wired happy, optimistic, and determined. Those traits make up the essence of Henry. And that's a beautiful thing to see.
With so much beauty around me, I perhaps dwell too much on the negative. I have never been particularly trusting of others as it is...let alone with the most important person in the world to me and Jeff. At least Jeff does work from home. And my job does allow me to do a lot from home. I can't imagine having to leave my son in someone else's care for 60 hours a week (those poor triplets...if they even exist). We are shooting for 30 hours at the moment. The plan is for me to take care of Henry in the early morning while Jeff starts work (EST). We'll have the nanny come into the house from 8AM to 2PM. Assuming that Jeff's work ends at 2-3PM (AZ time depending on daylight savings), he'll spend the time in the afternoon with Henry. And, Grammy and Grandpa want their share of Henry time too.
Grammy reported that Henry rolled toward his bouncy seat when he was ready for his rice cereal this morning. She said that he devoured his rice cereal. In fact, he pulled the small bowl that my mom was holding out of her hands and slurped up the rice cereal directly from it (she had made it kind of soupy). He ate a couple bowls of it for me in the afternoon. I fell asleep in the late afternoon, so Jeff watched Henry. Grandpa played with Henry in the evening and reported that he was moving around the floor quite a bit. I sent Jeff to bed around 10PM or so. He wasn't feeling well. I haven't been feeling well either, but I stayed up until 3:30AM yesterday (which I'm finding it harder to do as I get older, but I had work to do). Henry stayed up until 11:30PM. He then crashed in my arms.
Over the past several months, Jeff and I have seen and felt the most beautiful sides of human nature. Amidst the most painful time in our lives when it was unclear whether or not Henry would make it, family, friends, friends of family, and acquaintances near and far prayed for Henry and were incredibly supportive (and still are today). Then, of course, there is Henry. We have had a unique opportunity at witnessing Henry's development. Part of Henry's development is, of course, affected by the environment we provide for him. But there is a large part of Henry that has little to do with us. My son is hard-wired happy, optimistic, and determined. Those traits make up the essence of Henry. And that's a beautiful thing to see.
With so much beauty around me, I perhaps dwell too much on the negative. I have never been particularly trusting of others as it is...let alone with the most important person in the world to me and Jeff. At least Jeff does work from home. And my job does allow me to do a lot from home. I can't imagine having to leave my son in someone else's care for 60 hours a week (those poor triplets...if they even exist). We are shooting for 30 hours at the moment. The plan is for me to take care of Henry in the early morning while Jeff starts work (EST). We'll have the nanny come into the house from 8AM to 2PM. Assuming that Jeff's work ends at 2-3PM (AZ time depending on daylight savings), he'll spend the time in the afternoon with Henry. And, Grammy and Grandpa want their share of Henry time too.
Grammy reported that Henry rolled toward his bouncy seat when he was ready for his rice cereal this morning. She said that he devoured his rice cereal. In fact, he pulled the small bowl that my mom was holding out of her hands and slurped up the rice cereal directly from it (she had made it kind of soupy). He ate a couple bowls of it for me in the afternoon. I fell asleep in the late afternoon, so Jeff watched Henry. Grandpa played with Henry in the evening and reported that he was moving around the floor quite a bit. I sent Jeff to bed around 10PM or so. He wasn't feeling well. I haven't been feeling well either, but I stayed up until 3:30AM yesterday (which I'm finding it harder to do as I get older, but I had work to do). Henry stayed up until 11:30PM. He then crashed in my arms.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
A Good Eating Day
It's almost 11:30PM. Henry's sacked out in his bouncy seat. Henry had a good eating day. He ate 914 mls (around 31.5 ounces) of breast milk. He also had about four rounds of rice cereal (and pears for three of the four rounds).
Henry spent a lot of the day on his new UofA blanket. Because he is moving around so much, he needed a much larger blanket for the floor. I bought the UofA blanket over the weekend, because it is rather large. Bitsy has been tempting fate by walking very closely next to Henry while he is on the floor. She brushed past his head several times, so he reached out to grab her fur. I restrained her from attacking his hand, which she is prone to do (at least with me and Jeff) because she still acts like a kitten and thinks that attacks are a form of love. I didn't want to chance it with Henry. At some point, he'll have to learn the lesson of not pulling her fur, but he is much too young to learn it now.
In the late afternoon, I peak into the living room while Jeff gave Henry his massage. Jeff is so good with Henry, and Henry just loves his daddy time. Jeff weighed Henry at 15 lbs 9.5 ozs.
We had a pleasant walk in the evening. Ran into Swani and Hal, who commented on how fast Henry is changing. When we got back to the house, I went back to work. Jeff took care of Henry and brought Henry's bouncy seat into the kitchen while he made dinner. Henry watched intently.
Henry has had a lot of fun with his feet today. On Friday when Henry was on the floor, I told Tara that Henry had a right foot preference and hadn't grabbed his left foot. Right as the words left my mouth, Henry held both feet in his hands. He's been working hard at getting his right foot to his mouth. This evening, he did it. By the time he was done, he had a very wet right sock. Jeff pointed out this evening that Henry has good precision with his feet in terms of kicking things. He pushes his Einstein caterpillar around with his feet. This evening, he managed to get between the legs of one side of the caterpillar. Jeff said that this was a combination of him moving around on his back and picking up one of the legs. He's a very strong little guy.
Henry spent a lot of the day on his new UofA blanket. Because he is moving around so much, he needed a much larger blanket for the floor. I bought the UofA blanket over the weekend, because it is rather large. Bitsy has been tempting fate by walking very closely next to Henry while he is on the floor. She brushed past his head several times, so he reached out to grab her fur. I restrained her from attacking his hand, which she is prone to do (at least with me and Jeff) because she still acts like a kitten and thinks that attacks are a form of love. I didn't want to chance it with Henry. At some point, he'll have to learn the lesson of not pulling her fur, but he is much too young to learn it now.
In the late afternoon, I peak into the living room while Jeff gave Henry his massage. Jeff is so good with Henry, and Henry just loves his daddy time. Jeff weighed Henry at 15 lbs 9.5 ozs.
We had a pleasant walk in the evening. Ran into Swani and Hal, who commented on how fast Henry is changing. When we got back to the house, I went back to work. Jeff took care of Henry and brought Henry's bouncy seat into the kitchen while he made dinner. Henry watched intently.
Henry has had a lot of fun with his feet today. On Friday when Henry was on the floor, I told Tara that Henry had a right foot preference and hadn't grabbed his left foot. Right as the words left my mouth, Henry held both feet in his hands. He's been working hard at getting his right foot to his mouth. This evening, he did it. By the time he was done, he had a very wet right sock. Jeff pointed out this evening that Henry has good precision with his feet in terms of kicking things. He pushes his Einstein caterpillar around with his feet. This evening, he managed to get between the legs of one side of the caterpillar. Jeff said that this was a combination of him moving around on his back and picking up one of the legs. He's a very strong little guy.
The Peabody Test
Yesterday, Henry christened the television speakers with his fountain of youth as I was weighing him on the scale. Time to move the scale away from the entertainment center. He weighed 15 lbs 7.5 ozs. I gave him a massage. Jeff and I took Henry for a walk during Jeff's lunch break. Another beautiful day outside.
Cuyler, Henry's occupational therapist, came at 1:15PM. Henry hasn't been tested on any of the developmental scales in awhile. I had asked Tara on Friday about getting an assessment of his fine motor skills. She talked to Cuyler about testing Henry. Cuyler gave Henry the Peabody test. She specifically focused on two dimensions: grasping skills and visual motor integration. At Henry's age, it is hard to get a sense of their cognitive abilities, but the visual motor integration captures cognitive skills to some extent. I held Henry while Cuyler showed him blocks and a piece of paper. She thought that his right side was a little weaker than his left (demonstrated by how long the infant holds onto the objects). I had always thought that his right side was stronger than the left. But it occurred to me that on Henry's bouncy seat, we have been hanging objects on the tucan, which is on his left side, so he has probably gotten a lot more left side stimulation over the last month. We then placed Henry on his back and did a series of grasping tasks. He was better at the tasks on his back, because he didn't have to worry about his trunk support. On the ground, his trunk was stationary, which makes the grasping tasks a lot easier. Cuyler noticed that he doesn't quite turn his head to the left to the same degree that he does to the right. It isn't a problem right now, but it is something to keep an eye on. The Peabody test is a test that uses the child's adjusted age. On the grasping skills, Henry rated in the 37th percentile. On the visual motor integration skills, he was in the 50th percentile. The combined result was that Henry is in the 42th percentile (z=-.20 for you stats buffs out there) on his fine motor skills. Jeff and I were thrilled at this news. When Henry was tested in October, he was 2.5 months old (adjusted), and he had the skills of a 1 month old. He is now in the normal range, which means that in a relatively short period of time, he has made huge amounts of progress. Leaps and bounds of it. Cuyler said that most preemies don't test in the normal range for their adjusted age until some time after 6 months old adjusted.
Grandpa came in the afternoon. Henry slept and played. Jeff and I took Henry out for a walk in the evening. A reference for nanny candidate three called Jeff back. It was a glowing reference. We still need to call one more of candidate two's references. It looks like we have a tough choice to make.
In the evening, Henry made a huge mess of his rice cereal, somehow getting it behind his ear and in his eye lashes. We gave him a bath. He loves, loves, loves the water. He has great fun seeing how much water he can kick out of the baby tub onto the counter (the baby tub fits in our kitchen sink). He hasn't been the most diligent of eaters when it comes to his bottles (which he really needs for his caloric intake). He fell asleep after only eating 2/3 of his bottle (wasting a lot of breast milk, which we are running short on).
Henry got up at midnight and had a bottle. At 2AM, he started wailing as though he were pain. Turned out he just wanted another bottle. Jeff gave him 40 mls, while I pumped to get Henry more milk. By the time I had finished pumping, Henry was sacked out. We got up again at 6AM. Jeff fed Henry, while I again pumped. Henry and I went back to bed (Marley got kicked out of the bed to make room for Henry), and Jeff went to his computer to work. Henry and I got up at 8:30AM. Henry had a bottle. Had some rice cereal and pears. Spent time being cute.
Grammy came at 10AM. She's with Henry now. Henry was delighted to see her. He gave her a huge smile and reached his arms up to her. Then, he gave her a kiss. He doesn't quite have the pucker down yet...but he kind of gums the cheek like a kiss. Unfortunately for Grandma, he had rice cereal all over his face when he did this, but she didn't seem to mind.
Cuyler, Henry's occupational therapist, came at 1:15PM. Henry hasn't been tested on any of the developmental scales in awhile. I had asked Tara on Friday about getting an assessment of his fine motor skills. She talked to Cuyler about testing Henry. Cuyler gave Henry the Peabody test. She specifically focused on two dimensions: grasping skills and visual motor integration. At Henry's age, it is hard to get a sense of their cognitive abilities, but the visual motor integration captures cognitive skills to some extent. I held Henry while Cuyler showed him blocks and a piece of paper. She thought that his right side was a little weaker than his left (demonstrated by how long the infant holds onto the objects). I had always thought that his right side was stronger than the left. But it occurred to me that on Henry's bouncy seat, we have been hanging objects on the tucan, which is on his left side, so he has probably gotten a lot more left side stimulation over the last month. We then placed Henry on his back and did a series of grasping tasks. He was better at the tasks on his back, because he didn't have to worry about his trunk support. On the ground, his trunk was stationary, which makes the grasping tasks a lot easier. Cuyler noticed that he doesn't quite turn his head to the left to the same degree that he does to the right. It isn't a problem right now, but it is something to keep an eye on. The Peabody test is a test that uses the child's adjusted age. On the grasping skills, Henry rated in the 37th percentile. On the visual motor integration skills, he was in the 50th percentile. The combined result was that Henry is in the 42th percentile (z=-.20 for you stats buffs out there) on his fine motor skills. Jeff and I were thrilled at this news. When Henry was tested in October, he was 2.5 months old (adjusted), and he had the skills of a 1 month old. He is now in the normal range, which means that in a relatively short period of time, he has made huge amounts of progress. Leaps and bounds of it. Cuyler said that most preemies don't test in the normal range for their adjusted age until some time after 6 months old adjusted.
Grandpa came in the afternoon. Henry slept and played. Jeff and I took Henry out for a walk in the evening. A reference for nanny candidate three called Jeff back. It was a glowing reference. We still need to call one more of candidate two's references. It looks like we have a tough choice to make.In the evening, Henry made a huge mess of his rice cereal, somehow getting it behind his ear and in his eye lashes. We gave him a bath. He loves, loves, loves the water. He has great fun seeing how much water he can kick out of the baby tub onto the counter (the baby tub fits in our kitchen sink). He hasn't been the most diligent of eaters when it comes to his bottles (which he really needs for his caloric intake). He fell asleep after only eating 2/3 of his bottle (wasting a lot of breast milk, which we are running short on).
Henry got up at midnight and had a bottle. At 2AM, he started wailing as though he were pain. Turned out he just wanted another bottle. Jeff gave him 40 mls, while I pumped to get Henry more milk. By the time I had finished pumping, Henry was sacked out. We got up again at 6AM. Jeff fed Henry, while I again pumped. Henry and I went back to bed (Marley got kicked out of the bed to make room for Henry), and Jeff went to his computer to work. Henry and I got up at 8:30AM. Henry had a bottle. Had some rice cereal and pears. Spent time being cute.
Grammy came at 10AM. She's with Henry now. Henry was delighted to see her. He gave her a huge smile and reached his arms up to her. Then, he gave her a kiss. He doesn't quite have the pucker down yet...but he kind of gums the cheek like a kiss. Unfortunately for Grandma, he had rice cereal all over his face when he did this, but she didn't seem to mind.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Rolling, Rolling, Rolling
Henry weighed 15 lbs 7.5 ozs today. He did quite a bit of napping. Grandpa came in the morning. Henry played with Grandpa for awhile, but then crashed in his swing. Jeff and I took Henry out on a mid-day walk. It was a beautiful day outside. When we tried to feed him, Henry decided that he was bored with his rice cereal. So we decided to give him some pear puree mixed in the cereal to spice things up a bit. When the pear puree/rice cereal mixture first touched his tongue, he made the funniest face. The taste definitely took him by surprise. He overcame the initial surprise and decided to finish the bowl.
Jeff observed Henry do a full push up on his arms. It was the highest that Henry's pushed up yet. Henry also did a little log rolling. He rolled from his back to his stomach. And then returned to his back. He is frequently moving off his mat now. It is apparent that we are going to need to vacuum the carpets much more often now (once a week just isn't going to cut it now that he's becoming much more mobile).
Overall, his breast milk intake is still low, but it is much, much better than yesterday. He drank a little over 22.5 ounces breast milk and then had a little bit of formula. After our evening walk, I fed Henry a bottle of breast milk. He drank over 4 ozs rather quickly and he wanted more, but we hadn't defrosted the reserves yet. I gave him an additional 50 mls (about 1.67 ounces) of Nestle Good Start. That's the formula that's made of whey. The casein is taken out to promote faster gastric emptying, like breast milk. Before we gave it to him, Jeff and I tried it. Neither of us liked it, but the taste is A LOT better than Neocate. It still had a slight metallic taste to it. We also had cans of Similac Isomil Advanced and Enfamil EnfaCare LIPIL in the pantry. We tried to use these brands as fortifiers back in August, but Henry ended up being allergic to the dairy and soy in them. We have additional cans of both. We decided to give them both a try, just to see if there is such a thing as a decent tasting baby formula. We are aware, of course, that baby taste buds are different from adult taste buds. Still, I can't imagine any creature on this earth enjoying the taste of something metallic. Ick. The Similac Isomil Advanced is a soy formula. It was the only one that didn't have that slight metallic taste. It kind of tasted like how raw potatoes smell when you peel them.
I'm going to do what I can to prevent Henry from drinking formula, because it really is not pleasant stuff. But my body just isn't producing enough, despite me pumping every three hours and drinking "Mother's Milk" tea that is supposed to help milk production. I'm having what Cuyler refers to as "mommy guilt." There's no question in my mind that breast milk is much better than formula. It aides in the immune system. It transmits the Omega-3 fatty acids to the baby. Although formulas have DHA and ERA (fatty acids) added, I have read some studies which contend that the Omega-3s that are added to formulas are not readily absorbed by babies' bodies. Omega-3s are important for brain development. Breast milk aids in myelination, which basically means providing a protective coating of the neural pathways. The pumping is wearing me out, but I'm going to hold out until August.
Jeff got a hold of one of the references for the nanny candidates. This is for candidate two. The reference gave a glowing recommendation, making candidate two look very promising. Jeff is going to call the other references again tomorrow. I'm going to find a private investigation firm to run a pre-employment background check on whichever job candidate we choose. I informed the job candidates about this at their interviews.
Grandma and Grandpa brought dinner over tonight. They got to watch me feed Henry his evening meal of rice cereal and pears. Henry had seconds. My mom commented that Henry is no longer looking like a tiny baby. He has changed so much.
I forgot to mention yesterday that Henry exhibited another step in his development. Yesterday morning, Jeff was feeding him. He and I were about to switch places, so that he could take the dogs out for their walk. It was cold, so Henry and I were staying inside. As I approached Henry, he stretched out both of his arms to me (the "pick me up" sign). Definitely a sign that he's becoming a big boy. Over the last week or two, it seemed like he is beginning to understand that Henry is his name. When I call his name, he turns to look at me.
Jeff observed Henry do a full push up on his arms. It was the highest that Henry's pushed up yet. Henry also did a little log rolling. He rolled from his back to his stomach. And then returned to his back. He is frequently moving off his mat now. It is apparent that we are going to need to vacuum the carpets much more often now (once a week just isn't going to cut it now that he's becoming much more mobile).
Overall, his breast milk intake is still low, but it is much, much better than yesterday. He drank a little over 22.5 ounces breast milk and then had a little bit of formula. After our evening walk, I fed Henry a bottle of breast milk. He drank over 4 ozs rather quickly and he wanted more, but we hadn't defrosted the reserves yet. I gave him an additional 50 mls (about 1.67 ounces) of Nestle Good Start. That's the formula that's made of whey. The casein is taken out to promote faster gastric emptying, like breast milk. Before we gave it to him, Jeff and I tried it. Neither of us liked it, but the taste is A LOT better than Neocate. It still had a slight metallic taste to it. We also had cans of Similac Isomil Advanced and Enfamil EnfaCare LIPIL in the pantry. We tried to use these brands as fortifiers back in August, but Henry ended up being allergic to the dairy and soy in them. We have additional cans of both. We decided to give them both a try, just to see if there is such a thing as a decent tasting baby formula. We are aware, of course, that baby taste buds are different from adult taste buds. Still, I can't imagine any creature on this earth enjoying the taste of something metallic. Ick. The Similac Isomil Advanced is a soy formula. It was the only one that didn't have that slight metallic taste. It kind of tasted like how raw potatoes smell when you peel them.
I'm going to do what I can to prevent Henry from drinking formula, because it really is not pleasant stuff. But my body just isn't producing enough, despite me pumping every three hours and drinking "Mother's Milk" tea that is supposed to help milk production. I'm having what Cuyler refers to as "mommy guilt." There's no question in my mind that breast milk is much better than formula. It aides in the immune system. It transmits the Omega-3 fatty acids to the baby. Although formulas have DHA and ERA (fatty acids) added, I have read some studies which contend that the Omega-3s that are added to formulas are not readily absorbed by babies' bodies. Omega-3s are important for brain development. Breast milk aids in myelination, which basically means providing a protective coating of the neural pathways. The pumping is wearing me out, but I'm going to hold out until August.
Jeff got a hold of one of the references for the nanny candidates. This is for candidate two. The reference gave a glowing recommendation, making candidate two look very promising. Jeff is going to call the other references again tomorrow. I'm going to find a private investigation firm to run a pre-employment background check on whichever job candidate we choose. I informed the job candidates about this at their interviews.
Grandma and Grandpa brought dinner over tonight. They got to watch me feed Henry his evening meal of rice cereal and pears. Henry had seconds. My mom commented that Henry is no longer looking like a tiny baby. He has changed so much.
I forgot to mention yesterday that Henry exhibited another step in his development. Yesterday morning, Jeff was feeding him. He and I were about to switch places, so that he could take the dogs out for their walk. It was cold, so Henry and I were staying inside. As I approached Henry, he stretched out both of his arms to me (the "pick me up" sign). Definitely a sign that he's becoming a big boy. Over the last week or two, it seemed like he is beginning to understand that Henry is his name. When I call his name, he turns to look at me.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
On Strike
Henry had another late night on Thursday. We gave him a bath, which is ever so important, now that he's playing with rice cereal.Henry has decided to go on a bottle strike. On Friday and Saturday, he ate less than 600 mls per day (that's less than 20 ounces per day). On Friday, Jeff weighed him at 15 lbs 6.5 ozs. On Saturday, he somehow managed to weigh 15 lbs 8 ozs. He is eating his rice cereal, but he isn't eating enough to make up for the calories that he should be getting from breast milk. He should be consuming around 800 calories per day. We are bit frustrated by this turn of events. We also feel strongly that we can't force feed him either. That can cause food aversions. Cuyler (Henry's occupational therapist) is coming on Monday. We plan to discuss the situation with her then.
On Friday, we had the Synagis shot in the morning. The pulmonologist's office weighed Henry at 15 lbs 8 ozs. Henry had fun on the tissue paper as usual. Then came the big shot. As I have mentioned on previous entries, the Synagis shot is considered one of the more painful shots. Henry cried for 2 seconds, but then was comforted by his dad. Grandma and Grandpa were unable to visit on Friday. My mom had a speech to give in Sierra Vista. Henry and I spent the morning listening to children's songs from a CD that I bought him. He was very tired in the morning. I guess the Synagis shot really wiped him out. Plus, he had stayed up the night before and then had to get out of bed earlier than usual because of the Synagis appointment. Bitsy made a good attempt at getting as close to Henry as possible. She very much wants to play with him, but Jeff and I keep ruining her plans.
Tara, Henry's developmental specialist, visited on Friday afternoon. He was asleep through the first half of her visit. When he finally woke up, he let her hold him. He studied her face intensely. He let her put him down for tummy time. He did an impressive job. His push ups were very high. He inched himself around. He even managed to get his backside up a little bit into the air. And for once, he smiled and giggled when he was on his stomach. He worked up quite an appetite. Tara had the opportunity to watch me give him some rice cereal. She said that she hadn't seen a baby be so "aggressive" over eating his food. As the spoon came into his sight, he grabbed by my hand with both of his and pulled the spoon to his mouth. She was impressed again. She is really pleased with his progress. When Henry was originally assigned to her case load, his prior case manager had labeled him as a FTT child (FTT = failure to thrive). When this label was assigned to him, Jeff and I didn't agree with it. My reading of the literature (admittedly it is a limited reading) put much harder stories under the FTT label. It is true that Henry had a rough start in the NICU. But since he has been home, he has steadily gain weight (until December when he got sick...and even then, he has gain some weight). Jeff and I did not contest the labeling as we decided to leave it to the experts; besides, it gave Henry access to the therapists he needed to see. He got shifted from AZEIP (AZ early intervention program) to DDD (Division of Developmental Disabilities). Although the transition from one program to the other took forever (the prior program took a long time to send DDD Henry's file), we are very pleased by Tara's commitment to our son. Tara has another patient who is a true FTT child who is almost 3; for obvious reasons, she didn't get into details, but I can tell that the situation is a difficult one. When Henry was first assigned to her, she assumed he was FTT because that's what she had been told, so his progress since she has known him has been a pleasant surprise for her.We asked Tara when Henry will next be evaluated on one of the tests to see where he's at in terms of his development. Interestingly, she said that all of the tests that they use evaluate him are based on his actual age, not his adjusted age. Based on these tests, he's always going to be considered "delayed." She said that there is one test that assesses where their development is, not how delayed they are in comparison to their actual age; she said that it was the one that the pediatricians often use. So Henry will be tested by the early intervention program, but we have to keep in mind that the base of the scale is actual age. I suspect that the early intervention programs do this to justify their funding. I guess it isn't enough to say, "Hey, this kid was born 15 weeks early, is in a high risk group because of his prematurity, and therefore should be monitored closely. Duh." They have to "prove" that the kid is behind.
As usual, we went on our evening walks on Friday and Saturday evening at dusk. We have still been skipping the morning walks with Henry. Jeff takes the dogs out by himself. Henry loves his walks. I can't wait until it warms up so that Henry will get two walks a day instead of one. Henry is still staying up late. Don't know what to do about that.
Henry continued his hungry strike with the bottle Saturday morning. Henry had just about finished his rice cereal packets altogether, so I went to the store and got him more rice cereal and jars of first fruits. Jeff wants me to hold off giving Henry fruits until we see Cuyler. I'm respecting his request, but I really think that Henry's ready. He practically hangs off my arm trying to get spoonfuls of rice cereal into his mouth.
Grandpa came over on Saturday afternoon. He had missed Henry, because he hadn't seen him Thursday or Friday. Grandpa observed that Bitsy is getting a little territorial over the Baby Einstein caterpillar toy. It's true. She thinks that it is hers. Whenever Henry isn't using it, she sits under it. She loves playing with the dangling ball. She's even made a few baskets with it through a hoop that sets off the music. When Henry is using it, she stalks around it.
While I was out shopping, in addition to getting more rice cereal, I also got Henry a whole lot of bibs. He's eating so often that I figured it was a good investment. I strongly suspect that he will be a frequent eater once he really gets going...no mere three square meals a day for this boy! Henry was a good rice cereal eater again this evening. We also got a little bit of a bottle into him before Jeff put him to bed. And, he woke up around midnight (as I was completing this entry) for another bottle. He is now soundly asleep. And I'm tired. So off to pump and then I'm hitting the hay.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Hungry, Hungry Henry
Grammy came over Tuesday morning, while I prepared my lecture for Wednesday's first class of the semester. I cleaned some plastic rings that I had bought Henry awhile ago. I wanted some toys that we could put on Henry's mat so that he would be more encouraged to reach for things. We had fun with the rings. I turned Henry over to Jeff at some point because I had to pump. Apparently, Henry had "the biggest blowout ever" (according to Jeff). I was accused of getting out of there, leaving Jeff to deal with a very messy situation. Honestly, I didn't smell anything. Having been doused thoroughly the night before, I wasn't terribly apologetic about the situation.
We met with nanny candidate number three Tuesday afternoon. We liked her. As with nanny candidate number two, we aren't convinced that she is necessarily going to stay in Tucson for the long haul. Nanny candidate number two just moved to Tucson one month ago to be closer to her boyfriend. Nanny candidate number three moved to Tucson from Denver a few months ago to live with her husband's family. Nanny candidate number two is very quiet. She does seem to genuinely like children and is the one who has worked with children who are autistic. We like that she's had experience working along side occupational therapists. Nanny candidate number three has a degree in massage therapy. Given our recent positive experience with infant massage, we view this as a plus. At the moment, I think that we are leaning toward number two ever so slightly. We plan on calling their references today.
After the interview, I went to Babies R Us for some supplies. I ended up buying several teethers for Henry and some toys (soft blocks). Grandpa came over in the evening. After Grandpa left, we gave Henry one of the new teethers. It is one that vibrates when the baby bites down on it; it is supposed to soothe the gums. He really liked it until he started waving his arms around with it and bonked himself hard on the head. I was pumping at the time and heard this really loud wail. He hit himself so hard that it left a pink mark near his eye. We've decided to put that particular teether away until he's progressed a little bit more on his fine motor skills. We ended up giving him a bath to soothe him.
Grammy came yesterday morning to take care of Henry while I went to school for class. It's a research methods class...a large lecture of 105 students. After class, I came back home, and Jeff and I headed out the door with Henry to his Dr. Hassan appointment. Henry smiled at the nurse as she weighed him. She said that she was surprised and that most babies don't smile during measurements; they usually cry. Henry is just a very happy little guy. Henry weighed 15 lbs 9 ozs, and his head circumference was 42.9 cm. His length was 25 inches. The measurement for length is the most variable, depending on who is doing the measuring. When Jeff and I measured him at home a few days earlier, we thought he was 26 inches. We think that the head circumference measurement was accurate. Henry had just had a 4 ounce bottle before he got to the doctor's office, so we weren't convinced that his weight was really 15 lbs 9 ozs. Dr. Hassan said that Henry looked good. I said that his weight had stalled a little bit over the holidays. Dr. Hassan said that his growth curve looked good still. He lifted up his blanket and pointed at Henry's stomach and said that Henry's weight was just fine. "He's a healthy baby, mom." We told Dr. Hassan that Henry was out pacing my breast milk production and that we'd need to introduce some formula at some point. Dr. Hassan said that we should use a hypoallergenic formula. The top of the hypoallergenic formulas is Neocate (which we've been using to fortify his milk since late August). He mentioned that the Neocate is rather expensive; I think that he was trying to gauge our reaction to this. I said that was fine. We'd feed him whatever is best for him. Dr. Hassan got us two cans of Neocate to start us off. That was generous. A 14 oz can costs about $37.50. Expensive stuff. The plan is to have me continue to pump, and then to give him Neocate when the milk runs out.
We went on our evening walk. Henry said hello to Janice and Tripod (Janice’s son’s three-legged dog). Our pup Marley was taken with Tripod and was incredibly flirty. Henry was entranced by the dogs. Jeff gave Henry a massage after the walk, and then I gave Henry some rice cereal. His feeding went well. Messy of course. Grandpa visited in the evening. Henry was a little grumpy. After Grandpa left, Jeff fed Henry rice cereal again (after he rejected the bottle, had a diaper changed, didn’t want to play, etc). Henry gobbled it up. He got his lips around spoon. In fact, he was so enthusiastic about it that he kept grabbing Jeff’s hands to get the spoon to his mouth more quickly than Jeff’s pace had been. I think that Henry would have swallowed the whole spoon, if given the chance.
Henry was still up by 11:30PM. We decided to fix him a bottle, hoping it would soothe him to sleep. Jeff made up some Neocate formula, so that we could mix the Neocate (as formula not fortifier) with the breast milk. On Friday, Cuyler (Henry’s OT) had mentioned that she had tried all of the formulas. She said that the hypoallergenic formulas Nutramigen and Pregestimil did not taste good. Neocate is the most broken down formula. Nutramigen and Pregestimil are the next class of formulas. And, then there are the typical cow’s milk formulas, that most people use. There is Nestle Good Start, which is a fast gastric emptying formula that is made from cow’s milk, but it is processed so that it contains primarily whey; a good part of the casein is taken out; casein tends to curdle in baby’s stomach (which is why a lot of formula babies get colic). Cuyler ranked Good Start somewhere between the usual formulas and the Nutramigen and Pregstimil types. She recommended that we ask Henry’s pediatrician for some samples, because the hypoallergenic formulas are very expensive and they don’t taste good, which makes it harder for the baby to want to eat them. Jeff and I decided to try the Neocate to see what it would be like for Henry. We both took a spoonful each. Jeff tried it first. Then me. Oh my! It tastes so awful. Truly, truly disgusting. Back in September when I couldn’t eat dairy but had to keep my protein up, I was drinking this really icky protein powder made of pea isolates that form a complete protein. It was gross. Well, Neocate is ten times worse. It tastes like super nasty pea isolate with a tangy metallic aftertaste to top it off. Now Jeff and I are wondering if his food consumptions goes up when we don’t fortify his milk because of the calorie counts OR because the fortifier ruins the taste of the milk.
Given that Henry appears to be on the track for being an excellent solid food eater, I’m hoping that his solid food consumption will increase so that giving him formula bottles will be unnecessary. I’m still planning to pump. Tentatively, I’m planning to do this until he is one year old (adjusted). It’s an awfully long time to be pumping breast milk. And I know that most moms have stopped by now. When it becomes necessary, we may end up trying Henry on Good Start to see if he can handle that. Given his history, I’d like to avoid cow’s milk products as much as possible until he turns one year old (adjusted).
Henry was in bed by midnight. He slept until 8:20AM. I’m afraid that he turning into a night owl like me. He wasn’t terribly interested in his bottle this morning. And, he kept choking on the milk. Jeff was wondering if he is having problems adjusting to the different swallowing patterns (milk versus rice cereal). Around 10AM, I made up some rice cereal for him. He gobbled it up again. He was taking big bites. He was pulling my hand with the spoon toward him with all of his might.
Grammy came in as I was feeding Henry. She was impressed by his appetite. I told her about the Neocate and jokingly offered her a taste. She decided to try it. About 1/2 tsp. She said, "That's the worse thing I've ever tasted." Jeff mentioned that he thought it had a metallic taste to it. I hadn't used the word "metallic" to him even though that's what I was thinking. Ick. It's gross. Interestingly, their website mentions something about a sweet taste to it. Have they tried it? I'm not knocking Neocate's importance in the baby world. It is used for short gut babies and babies with allergies. But we should still call a spade a spade. Sweet? I don't think so.
I’m going to get some banana or pear puree at the store. We were going to wait until our Cuyler appointment to try anything new, but given his bold enthusiasm toward the rice cereal, I now think that we should plunge ahead into the wild world of fruit purees. Henry has been eating rice cereal for 6 days straight. Plus, we had tried it twice over the holidays. He's ready.
We met with nanny candidate number three Tuesday afternoon. We liked her. As with nanny candidate number two, we aren't convinced that she is necessarily going to stay in Tucson for the long haul. Nanny candidate number two just moved to Tucson one month ago to be closer to her boyfriend. Nanny candidate number three moved to Tucson from Denver a few months ago to live with her husband's family. Nanny candidate number two is very quiet. She does seem to genuinely like children and is the one who has worked with children who are autistic. We like that she's had experience working along side occupational therapists. Nanny candidate number three has a degree in massage therapy. Given our recent positive experience with infant massage, we view this as a plus. At the moment, I think that we are leaning toward number two ever so slightly. We plan on calling their references today.After the interview, I went to Babies R Us for some supplies. I ended up buying several teethers for Henry and some toys (soft blocks). Grandpa came over in the evening. After Grandpa left, we gave Henry one of the new teethers. It is one that vibrates when the baby bites down on it; it is supposed to soothe the gums. He really liked it until he started waving his arms around with it and bonked himself hard on the head. I was pumping at the time and heard this really loud wail. He hit himself so hard that it left a pink mark near his eye. We've decided to put that particular teether away until he's progressed a little bit more on his fine motor skills. We ended up giving him a bath to soothe him.
Grammy came yesterday morning to take care of Henry while I went to school for class. It's a research methods class...a large lecture of 105 students. After class, I came back home, and Jeff and I headed out the door with Henry to his Dr. Hassan appointment. Henry smiled at the nurse as she weighed him. She said that she was surprised and that most babies don't smile during measurements; they usually cry. Henry is just a very happy little guy. Henry weighed 15 lbs 9 ozs, and his head circumference was 42.9 cm. His length was 25 inches. The measurement for length is the most variable, depending on who is doing the measuring. When Jeff and I measured him at home a few days earlier, we thought he was 26 inches. We think that the head circumference measurement was accurate. Henry had just had a 4 ounce bottle before he got to the doctor's office, so we weren't convinced that his weight was really 15 lbs 9 ozs. Dr. Hassan said that Henry looked good. I said that his weight had stalled a little bit over the holidays. Dr. Hassan said that his growth curve looked good still. He lifted up his blanket and pointed at Henry's stomach and said that Henry's weight was just fine. "He's a healthy baby, mom." We told Dr. Hassan that Henry was out pacing my breast milk production and that we'd need to introduce some formula at some point. Dr. Hassan said that we should use a hypoallergenic formula. The top of the hypoallergenic formulas is Neocate (which we've been using to fortify his milk since late August). He mentioned that the Neocate is rather expensive; I think that he was trying to gauge our reaction to this. I said that was fine. We'd feed him whatever is best for him. Dr. Hassan got us two cans of Neocate to start us off. That was generous. A 14 oz can costs about $37.50. Expensive stuff. The plan is to have me continue to pump, and then to give him Neocate when the milk runs out.
We went on our evening walk. Henry said hello to Janice and Tripod (Janice’s son’s three-legged dog). Our pup Marley was taken with Tripod and was incredibly flirty. Henry was entranced by the dogs. Jeff gave Henry a massage after the walk, and then I gave Henry some rice cereal. His feeding went well. Messy of course. Grandpa visited in the evening. Henry was a little grumpy. After Grandpa left, Jeff fed Henry rice cereal again (after he rejected the bottle, had a diaper changed, didn’t want to play, etc). Henry gobbled it up. He got his lips around spoon. In fact, he was so enthusiastic about it that he kept grabbing Jeff’s hands to get the spoon to his mouth more quickly than Jeff’s pace had been. I think that Henry would have swallowed the whole spoon, if given the chance.
Henry was still up by 11:30PM. We decided to fix him a bottle, hoping it would soothe him to sleep. Jeff made up some Neocate formula, so that we could mix the Neocate (as formula not fortifier) with the breast milk. On Friday, Cuyler (Henry’s OT) had mentioned that she had tried all of the formulas. She said that the hypoallergenic formulas Nutramigen and Pregestimil did not taste good. Neocate is the most broken down formula. Nutramigen and Pregestimil are the next class of formulas. And, then there are the typical cow’s milk formulas, that most people use. There is Nestle Good Start, which is a fast gastric emptying formula that is made from cow’s milk, but it is processed so that it contains primarily whey; a good part of the casein is taken out; casein tends to curdle in baby’s stomach (which is why a lot of formula babies get colic). Cuyler ranked Good Start somewhere between the usual formulas and the Nutramigen and Pregstimil types. She recommended that we ask Henry’s pediatrician for some samples, because the hypoallergenic formulas are very expensive and they don’t taste good, which makes it harder for the baby to want to eat them. Jeff and I decided to try the Neocate to see what it would be like for Henry. We both took a spoonful each. Jeff tried it first. Then me. Oh my! It tastes so awful. Truly, truly disgusting. Back in September when I couldn’t eat dairy but had to keep my protein up, I was drinking this really icky protein powder made of pea isolates that form a complete protein. It was gross. Well, Neocate is ten times worse. It tastes like super nasty pea isolate with a tangy metallic aftertaste to top it off. Now Jeff and I are wondering if his food consumptions goes up when we don’t fortify his milk because of the calorie counts OR because the fortifier ruins the taste of the milk.
Given that Henry appears to be on the track for being an excellent solid food eater, I’m hoping that his solid food consumption will increase so that giving him formula bottles will be unnecessary. I’m still planning to pump. Tentatively, I’m planning to do this until he is one year old (adjusted). It’s an awfully long time to be pumping breast milk. And I know that most moms have stopped by now. When it becomes necessary, we may end up trying Henry on Good Start to see if he can handle that. Given his history, I’d like to avoid cow’s milk products as much as possible until he turns one year old (adjusted).
Henry was in bed by midnight. He slept until 8:20AM. I’m afraid that he turning into a night owl like me. He wasn’t terribly interested in his bottle this morning. And, he kept choking on the milk. Jeff was wondering if he is having problems adjusting to the different swallowing patterns (milk versus rice cereal). Around 10AM, I made up some rice cereal for him. He gobbled it up again. He was taking big bites. He was pulling my hand with the spoon toward him with all of his might.
Grammy came in as I was feeding Henry. She was impressed by his appetite. I told her about the Neocate and jokingly offered her a taste. She decided to try it. About 1/2 tsp. She said, "That's the worse thing I've ever tasted." Jeff mentioned that he thought it had a metallic taste to it. I hadn't used the word "metallic" to him even though that's what I was thinking. Ick. It's gross. Interestingly, their website mentions something about a sweet taste to it. Have they tried it? I'm not knocking Neocate's importance in the baby world. It is used for short gut babies and babies with allergies. But we should still call a spade a spade. Sweet? I don't think so.
I’m going to get some banana or pear puree at the store. We were going to wait until our Cuyler appointment to try anything new, but given his bold enthusiasm toward the rice cereal, I now think that we should plunge ahead into the wild world of fruit purees. Henry has been eating rice cereal for 6 days straight. Plus, we had tried it twice over the holidays. He's ready.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Henry Hercules
We had a nice weekend with Henry. On Saturday, Henry impressed us with his strength. Rather than merely playing under his Baby Einstein caterpillar, he lifted the whole play station up and sucked on the base of one of the legs. In the evening, he went over to his grandparents' house, while Jeff and I went over to our good friends' house for a night of political talk and Cranium. Jeff and I did horribly at Cranium, but we had a good time. And, I held out until about 9:30PM before suggesting to Jeff that one of us should call to check up on Henry. Jeff called. Everything was fine. We stayed out until 11:15PM!
On Sunday, Henry weighed 15 lbs 3 ozs. Henry had a good time playing with his rice cereal. Jeff took him over to his grandparents' in the afternoon. He is finally stable enough where he doesn't need someone to sit by his side every minute that he's in the backseat of the car. I did some cleaning at home. Jeff did some shopping and came back and cleaned too. Then, we went over to my parents' house for dinner. Henry had a busy afternoon on his Jungle mat. He had a fantastic eating day and consume after one liter of milk, setting his new record of 1003 mls.
On Monday, Henry made an extra mess with his food. I had put some of the rice cereal on one of his toys. The OT said that it was good to put food on different toys, because then he will learn to lick the food from different angles, which is good for range of motion of the tongue. He missed his mouth and got a huge gob of rice cereal on his nose. It was very cute. Grammy visited Henry a little after 10AM and stayed until about 2PM. She came in just as I was finishing up feeding his rice cereal. She said that it was hard resisting the urge to wipe the food off his face. We are following Cuyler's directions to the letter and not cleaning up his face until the very end. He gets to have all the fun he wants making a mess with his food. Henry weighed 15 lbs 4.5 ozs today.We had a visit with our second nanny candidate at 3:30PM. We liked her. She's very soft-spoken. She has worked with older kids as well as babies. She has also worked with autistic children before. She is from Boston. We have another interview set up with a third gal tomorrow afternoon. After we select someone, we'll see about checking references and higher an investigation firm to do background checks. The gal today has completed CPR training and I believe has a finger print card already (obtained through our city police department).
We went on a walk before dusk. Grandpa came over in the evening. After Grandpa left, I gave Henry as massage. He got a little too relaxed and sprung a large leak. He really outdid himself spraying me, himself, and the blanket. Jeff was impressed. We ended up giving Henry a much needed bath. He loves, loves, loves bath time. He made a huge puddle on the counter (his bath tub fits in the kitchen sink). At least this puddle was made of water. Afterward, we settled down on the couch, and he had a nice bottle of milk before falling asleep.
Friday, January 11, 2008
5 Months Old (Adjusted Age)
Henry reached the 5 month mark on his adjusted age today. His adjusted age refers to when he should have been born and consequently where we consider him developmentally. And, he's looking fine!
Yesterday, we had a busy day. Grammy came in the morning, so that I could get some work done and participate in the weekly NAES conference call. Henry weighed 15 lbs 1.5 ozs.
In the afternoon, we met with our first nanny candidate. The meeting went OK, but we are still looking. The person said she had some preschool teaching experience, but then went to school and worked for 11 years being a nanny for her sister's children. The meeting was going well until I mentioned that we had planned to pay Social Security and Medicare. Then, her rate jumped up by 20%, and she said that it was to be her take home pay, meaning that she would expect us to compensate for the taxes, SS, and Medicare coverage, and some other things. The exchange left me with a queasy feeling. I know that a lot of people do things under the table. But Jeff and I plan to follow the law, especially considering that this isn't just a one day or one week gig. If someone is consistently coming to one's house to do a service, then they are serving as a domestic employee. I'm not quite sure why her rate jumped up 20% as her take home pay either. I felt like she looked around and decided to give us the shake down. The long and the short of it is that it didn't feel like a good fit. So, Jeff and I are still on the nanny hunt. Jeff contacted a few other people on craigslist, who will hopefully write back.
Henry didn't sleep much during the day. He was incredibly loud during the nanny candidate visit. He really loves to squeal. Jeff and I were going to go on our evening walk. I had put my coat on. By this time, Henry had passed out. I figured that he should stay home, because he does need some rest. I took the dogs out, while Jeff stayed with Henry. I ran into several of our neighbors (Yvonne, Hal, and Krista), who wanted to know where Mr. Henry was. He's very popular. Krista, our resident LPGA golfer, and I chatted, but she stayed about 10 feet away from me, because she was getting sick. We have very thoughtful neighbors.
This morning, I took care of Henry. He weighed 15 lbs 3 ozs. He slept from about 10:30AM to 12:30PM. I fed him a bottle before Miriam came for our last session on infant massage. Jeff did the massage. Miriam was very impressed with Henry. She said that she was surprised with his patience and focus. She mentioned this last time too. Henry really was great. He got a little agitated toward the end of the session, because he wanted food. Tara was present for the massage session too. She said that when she did case work in Florida, they would have never let something like infant massage be apart of the therapy. Tara recently moved to Tucson. She said that she's pleased that Arizona is more open to various therapeutic approaches. Given the experimental research shows that babies who are massaged gain more weight and bone density than their non-massaged babies, it is surprising that it isn't taken more seriously. Henry, Jeff, and I graduated from the massage class. Miriam said that Henry's body looked like a 5 month old, but his focus was much older. I haven't been around 5 month olds in a really long time, so it is hard for me to say. But I do know that his focus is excellent.
Bitsy the Kitten had been put in our bedroom during the massage session. She's a bit of an attention hog. After Miriam left, Jeff went to the back and found Bitsy sitting in the diaper changing station. The cat thinks she owns everything.
Tara hung out with Henry until Cuyler, the occupational therapist, came for her second visit. Cuyler is the OT who is worth her weight in gold. She had evaluated Henry when he was 2.5 months old (adjusted) and helped us get him to eat and sleep. The big thing that we did today was get Henry to eat rice cereal. Jeff and I had tried it twice before over the holidays, but we stopped when it seemed like Henry just wasn't quite ready (or we weren't doing it right). He has some of the appropriate signs of being ready, like sitting up (with some assistance), lunging forward, and reaching for our food. Having a baby with chronic lung disease means that you have to be very careful when introducing food. Food has a tendency to get coughed, choked, and sputtered into the lungs. The Amazing Cuyler started off by having us put Henry in his bouncy seat. She then stuck her finger in the rice cereal and introduced it to Henry by letting him play with her finger. Considering that he loves chewing fingers these days, it worked out wonderfully. Then, she put some of the cereal on a toy, and he mouthed the cereal off the toy. He was doing those things so well, that she then tried it with the spoon. He was hesitant at first. But she introduced him to the spoon and let him play with it. After a few minutes, she had him eating off the spoon well. The woman is really amazing. She has an incredibly eye for baby body language too. She has recommended that we continue trying the rice cereal once a day...
not for its nutritional value, but for getting Henry used to the idea of solid foods and for the pleasure of it. One of the things that she doesn't want us to do is use the spoon to scrap food off the chin and put back into the mouth. She said that this can actually cause food aversion in some kids. So, for now, the act of eating should be messy and fun for Henry. Henry had a good time and then passed out in his chair.
Henry did get up a little later so that we could go on our walk in the evening. It was a nice night. Our dogs tried chasing a coyote, but Jeff got them to stop. Apparently, they did that yesterday morning too. It is best if they just leave the coyotes alone.
The grandparents brought dinner in the evening. Henry was very social as usual. He looked sleepy at times, but he kept getting a second wind, third wind, etc. He didn't go to bed until 11:15PM. That's all for now. The Henry Chronicles continue tomorrow....
Yesterday, we had a busy day. Grammy came in the morning, so that I could get some work done and participate in the weekly NAES conference call. Henry weighed 15 lbs 1.5 ozs.
In the afternoon, we met with our first nanny candidate. The meeting went OK, but we are still looking. The person said she had some preschool teaching experience, but then went to school and worked for 11 years being a nanny for her sister's children. The meeting was going well until I mentioned that we had planned to pay Social Security and Medicare. Then, her rate jumped up by 20%, and she said that it was to be her take home pay, meaning that she would expect us to compensate for the taxes, SS, and Medicare coverage, and some other things. The exchange left me with a queasy feeling. I know that a lot of people do things under the table. But Jeff and I plan to follow the law, especially considering that this isn't just a one day or one week gig. If someone is consistently coming to one's house to do a service, then they are serving as a domestic employee. I'm not quite sure why her rate jumped up 20% as her take home pay either. I felt like she looked around and decided to give us the shake down. The long and the short of it is that it didn't feel like a good fit. So, Jeff and I are still on the nanny hunt. Jeff contacted a few other people on craigslist, who will hopefully write back.
Henry didn't sleep much during the day. He was incredibly loud during the nanny candidate visit. He really loves to squeal. Jeff and I were going to go on our evening walk. I had put my coat on. By this time, Henry had passed out. I figured that he should stay home, because he does need some rest. I took the dogs out, while Jeff stayed with Henry. I ran into several of our neighbors (Yvonne, Hal, and Krista), who wanted to know where Mr. Henry was. He's very popular. Krista, our resident LPGA golfer, and I chatted, but she stayed about 10 feet away from me, because she was getting sick. We have very thoughtful neighbors.This morning, I took care of Henry. He weighed 15 lbs 3 ozs. He slept from about 10:30AM to 12:30PM. I fed him a bottle before Miriam came for our last session on infant massage. Jeff did the massage. Miriam was very impressed with Henry. She said that she was surprised with his patience and focus. She mentioned this last time too. Henry really was great. He got a little agitated toward the end of the session, because he wanted food. Tara was present for the massage session too. She said that when she did case work in Florida, they would have never let something like infant massage be apart of the therapy. Tara recently moved to Tucson. She said that she's pleased that Arizona is more open to various therapeutic approaches. Given the experimental research shows that babies who are massaged gain more weight and bone density than their non-massaged babies, it is surprising that it isn't taken more seriously. Henry, Jeff, and I graduated from the massage class. Miriam said that Henry's body looked like a 5 month old, but his focus was much older. I haven't been around 5 month olds in a really long time, so it is hard for me to say. But I do know that his focus is excellent.
Bitsy the Kitten had been put in our bedroom during the massage session. She's a bit of an attention hog. After Miriam left, Jeff went to the back and found Bitsy sitting in the diaper changing station. The cat thinks she owns everything.Tara hung out with Henry until Cuyler, the occupational therapist, came for her second visit. Cuyler is the OT who is worth her weight in gold. She had evaluated Henry when he was 2.5 months old (adjusted) and helped us get him to eat and sleep. The big thing that we did today was get Henry to eat rice cereal. Jeff and I had tried it twice before over the holidays, but we stopped when it seemed like Henry just wasn't quite ready (or we weren't doing it right). He has some of the appropriate signs of being ready, like sitting up (with some assistance), lunging forward, and reaching for our food. Having a baby with chronic lung disease means that you have to be very careful when introducing food. Food has a tendency to get coughed, choked, and sputtered into the lungs. The Amazing Cuyler started off by having us put Henry in his bouncy seat. She then stuck her finger in the rice cereal and introduced it to Henry by letting him play with her finger. Considering that he loves chewing fingers these days, it worked out wonderfully. Then, she put some of the cereal on a toy, and he mouthed the cereal off the toy. He was doing those things so well, that she then tried it with the spoon. He was hesitant at first. But she introduced him to the spoon and let him play with it. After a few minutes, she had him eating off the spoon well. The woman is really amazing. She has an incredibly eye for baby body language too. She has recommended that we continue trying the rice cereal once a day...
not for its nutritional value, but for getting Henry used to the idea of solid foods and for the pleasure of it. One of the things that she doesn't want us to do is use the spoon to scrap food off the chin and put back into the mouth. She said that this can actually cause food aversion in some kids. So, for now, the act of eating should be messy and fun for Henry. Henry had a good time and then passed out in his chair.Henry did get up a little later so that we could go on our walk in the evening. It was a nice night. Our dogs tried chasing a coyote, but Jeff got them to stop. Apparently, they did that yesterday morning too. It is best if they just leave the coyotes alone.
The grandparents brought dinner in the evening. Henry was very social as usual. He looked sleepy at times, but he kept getting a second wind, third wind, etc. He didn't go to bed until 11:15PM. That's all for now. The Henry Chronicles continue tomorrow....
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Appointment Missed
Grammy came in the morning to visit with Henry. I spent the morning cleaning the carpets. Jeff and I took Henry over to the Wilmot Clinic for his appointment with Dr. Hassan. The clinic had called on Monday to say that our appointment was at 1PM. I managed to lose the appointment card, so I was glad that they did their usual pre-appointment call. We got there, and the woman at the desk said that we had missed the appointment, which she said was scheduled at 10AM. Ugh. Driving 45 minutes for no reason. I was incredibly annoyed. I explained that they had said it was for 1PM, but she said that Dr. Hassan had already left for the day. But she did us a "favor" by letting us have an appointment with Dr. Hassan next week, rather than making us waiting a month or two.
We went to Lovin' Spoonfuls for lunch and sat outside. It was a nice day. Henry watch cars move around the parking lot. Their outside seating lacks a certain ambiance, but considering that cars are something new to Henry, he was quite pleased with the situation.
We came home. Jeff made a fire. Henry weighed 14 lbs 15.5 ozs. Jeff gave Henry a massage in front of the fire. Henry squealed a lot and had a good time. The massage made him very hungry afterward. Then, we went on our evening walk. Said hello to Hal and his dogs Annie and Luke. Grandpa came over to watch the UofA get beaten by ASU in basketball. Henry had a good eating day...consumed 900 mls (around 30 ounces). That's about it.
Tomorrow, we meet with one of the craigslist potential nannies. One of them already got placed, so hopefully, the remaining candidate works out. Otherwise, I guess we'll go with the nanny agency.
We went to Lovin' Spoonfuls for lunch and sat outside. It was a nice day. Henry watch cars move around the parking lot. Their outside seating lacks a certain ambiance, but considering that cars are something new to Henry, he was quite pleased with the situation.
We came home. Jeff made a fire. Henry weighed 14 lbs 15.5 ozs. Jeff gave Henry a massage in front of the fire. Henry squealed a lot and had a good time. The massage made him very hungry afterward. Then, we went on our evening walk. Said hello to Hal and his dogs Annie and Luke. Grandpa came over to watch the UofA get beaten by ASU in basketball. Henry had a good eating day...consumed 900 mls (around 30 ounces). That's about it.Tomorrow, we meet with one of the craigslist potential nannies. One of them already got placed, so hopefully, the remaining candidate works out. Otherwise, I guess we'll go with the nanny agency.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Back Home
We spent last night and today over at the grand parents' house. Henry spent the morning playing on his Jungle mat. Henry scooted halfway off the mat a couple times. He'd move off it. I'd put him back in the center of it. He'd move off it again. We also walked around my parents' yards and looked at the vegetation. Jeff called Servigas (our gas delivery service) about our problem. He met them at our house in the morning for a gas leak check. We had gas leaking in two locations (water heater and grill). Good thing that we left last night rather than spending the night inhaling toxic fumes.Jeff came back to my parents' house mid-day, and we went to the doctor's office for Henry's Prevnar shot (prevents pneumococcal disease). It was a quick visit. Henry got to play on his beloved tissue paper. He cried when the nurse was injecting the liquid, but he was brave and quieted down in 30 seconds.
After Henry said hello to Grandpa after Grandpa came home from work, we returned to our house. We don't have heat back on, because the gas company can't fill the tank until Friday. So Jeff bought some small space heaters and some firelogs at Walgreen's on our way home. Henry got to see a fire for the first time. The firelogs are great. They don't generate much smoke, but they produce some nice heat. I gave Henry a massage in front of the fire. He enjoyed watching the fire and having the massage. After the massage, I leaned over Henry, and he got mad at me because I wouldn't let him rip my glasses off my face. I distracted him by pointing out that Bitsy the Cat was nearby. I said hello to Bitsy, and Henry figured out to whom I was talking. He then turned his head toward Bitsy. I'm surprised that he's figuring out sound and object direction so quickly.
In my previous entries, I forgot to mention two things that happened this week. First, I used the word "no" to Henry for what I think was the first time. It was a few days ago. He was grabbing my hair and feeling my face; he got a little exuberant and scratched me. I'm quite sure that the vocal intonation behind the "no" was a tad on the wussy side, so I'm sure that it made no impact on him whatsoever. I have been trying to teach him the word "gentle." I've been telling him that when we pet the cats and dogs, we have to pet them "gently." Second, the other day, Henry made a big step on visual tracking. I held his green frog in my hand and dropped it about a foot onto my lap. Henry, who was sitting on my lap, was able to follow the falling frog, and then he would look up at my hand to see that it was empty. You could tell that he was putting the pieces of the environmental puzzle together. An object is in one location, and then it changes to another location. Big stuff.
Looks like we are doing interviews with our craigslist nanny prospects on Thursday afternoon. Jeff was just saying how this is going to be a hard transition for us. I agree.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Home Evacuation
Well, it has been another busy day full of surprises. Grammy came in the morning to take care of Henry, while I got some things done around the house. Grandpa came around 12:30PM to take over the Henry watch, while Jeff and I went to an appointment with a nanny placement agency. We are beginning our search for a nanny. A couple days ago, Jeff put an ad on craigslist and received two replies, which look promising. The advantage of the placement agency is that they've already done the background checks on the nannies (a private investigator tracks down any civil, criminal, and/or traffic violations, makes sure that nanny finger prints are registered with the police, and does a drug test). That appears to be the norm even on craigslist for our area. So the two Henrys were left alone together. Little Henry initially took a nap, but then my dad said he got up and played quite vigorously until my mom arrived after her Board of Adjustments meeting (she has been on the county committee for years and is chair). Jeff and I stopped by Babies R Us on our way back from the meeting to get Henry some outfits without feet, so that he'll have an easier time grabbing his toes.
In the afternoon, I gave Henry a massage. He was awfully playful and wasn't really in the mood to relax. He had a good time with it, but he was all wiggles and squeals. He weighed 15 lbs. Later in the afternoon, Henry made another big developmental step by holding his bottle all by himself! He has tried to do this before. But today, he got the nipple into his mouth by himself and tipped the whole thing upright while holding it. It didn't last long, but nonetheless, we were amazed by his drive to do it himself. At not quite 5 months adjusted, I wasn't expecting this from him.
We went over to the grand parents' house in the evening for the LSU vs OSU game. Henry got to meet Uncle Dan and Uncle Richard for the first time. He had a good time on his Jungle mat as usual and also watched the game. He really does like to watch football on the television. I'm not exactly thrilled at it being his favorite type of programming (by far), because I think that it dooms me to too many future fall nights spent watching football...unless we let the dogs and cats vote on the programming. Roger and Marley hate it when Jeff watches football. They can sense his tension. Roger doesn't like cheering or yelling and hides in my office. Marley sits in front of Jeff looking concerned for his well-being.We left my parents' house around 10:30PM. When we got back to our place, Jeff and I noticed a weird smell. At first, I thought that the cats had missed the litter box again. Jeff and I went around looking for the smell. Jeff discovered that our gas tank was on empty AND the smell was particularly strong underneath the gas grill. We had the tank filled a little over a month ago. In the winter, a tank usually lasts 3 months (it lasts much, much longer during the summer). We think that we have a gas leak. So, we opened up some windows, packed up a few belongings, and headed back to the grand parents' house for the night. Luckily, Henry has a crib, complete with Angelcare monitor over here. We're calling the gas company first thing in the morning to figure out a plan of action.
We have a busy week ahead of us too. Tomorrow, we've got to get the gas fixed. Plus DirectTV is scheduled to come out and upgrade our dish in the morning. Then, we have an appointment for a vaccination at Dr. Bianchi's office (the appointment is a nurse visit). On Wednesday, we have an appointment with Dr. Hassan, the GI specialist. On Thursday, I hope that we don't have anything! On Friday, we have round two with Miriam, the infant massage therapist. Cuyler, the occupational therapist, is also visiting us that day. I start back at school a week from Wednesday.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Henry's Massage and a New Type of Kangaroo Care
We've had a fairly busy couple of days. On Friday, Henry weighed 14 lbs 13.5 ozs. My mom came mid-morning and stayed until 1PM, when Miriam (the massage therapist) and Tara (Henry's DDD coordinator and developmental specialist) arrived. As it was our first session with her, Miriam gave us a lecture on the importance of touch to infant development. Miriam grew up in a Kibbutz (an Israeli collective community) and later moved to the U.S. She's been doing infant massage since 1986. She showed us a lot of massage techniques. She had a doll in front of her. I had Henry in front of me. She showed us a technique on the doll, then I would try to do the same thing to Henry. She told us that babies often get incredibly hungry after they've had a massage. Turned out to be the case with Henry. She also said that they sleep and grow better. According to the research, NICU babies who were given regular massages gained 47% more weight than babies who weren't given the massages. They also had greater bone density than the non-massaged babies. Make one wonder why all NICUs don't hire one on staff. A small expense early could translate into thousands of dollars saved down the road. The massage's effect on Henry? Well, he slept 11 hours straight that night. Wow.
On Saturday, Henry weighed 14 lbs 13 ozs. Jeff gave Henry the massage. Henry enjoyed it. He also managed to spray us a couple of times. He again got very hungry after it. He had a good afternoon. We went on a fantastic walk in the evening. The sunset was amazing. The colors were very dynamic and kept changing every few minutes. Rather than putting a second layer of clothing on Henry, Jeff used his jacket around them both. It's our new form of kangaroo care! Grandma and Grandpa brought dinner in the evening. Henry slept well.
On Sunday, Henry weighed 14 lbs 14 ozs. We spent the day at the grand parents' house. Grandma and Grandpa took care of Henry, while Jeff and I organized a bunch of papers that we had brought over. Grandpa said that Henry roller over onto his stomach while on the Jungle mat but then got perplexed when he realized he was on his tummy. We went home earlier than usual for a Sunday night as Grandma and Grandpa went to the theater. Jeff and I decided it was best not to use our theater tickets this season (because of the germ factor). Henry had a much needed bath in the evening. He got to play with his new rubber duck toy that Sharon Collins had given him. Very cool duck. It quacks and lights up when it touches water.
On Saturday, Henry weighed 14 lbs 13 ozs. Jeff gave Henry the massage. Henry enjoyed it. He also managed to spray us a couple of times. He again got very hungry after it. He had a good afternoon. We went on a fantastic walk in the evening. The sunset was amazing. The colors were very dynamic and kept changing every few minutes. Rather than putting a second layer of clothing on Henry, Jeff used his jacket around them both. It's our new form of kangaroo care! Grandma and Grandpa brought dinner in the evening. Henry slept well.
On Sunday, Henry weighed 14 lbs 14 ozs. We spent the day at the grand parents' house. Grandma and Grandpa took care of Henry, while Jeff and I organized a bunch of papers that we had brought over. Grandpa said that Henry roller over onto his stomach while on the Jungle mat but then got perplexed when he realized he was on his tummy. We went home earlier than usual for a Sunday night as Grandma and Grandpa went to the theater. Jeff and I decided it was best not to use our theater tickets this season (because of the germ factor). Henry had a much needed bath in the evening. He got to play with his new rubber duck toy that Sharon Collins had given him. Very cool duck. It quacks and lights up when it touches water.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Adjusted Age
