Henry's Active Day

Henry went to bed early last night (around 7PM or so). He woke up around 3:15AM. Jeff fed him his bottle while I pumped. He had a good appetite. He wasn't particularly tired when he was done with his bottle. Jeff held him for awhile to keep him upright (one of the reflux precautions). Then, we brought him into our bed so that he would be propped up on a pillow. We have mixed feelings about bringing him to bed. On the one hand, we love snuggling with him. And, keeping him propped up is good for his reflux condition. On the other hand, it is safer to have babies sleep in their cribs. I heard some horror stories from nurses while in the NICU that made me really aware of the problems of babies sleeping in beds. So we don't do it often. It will be nice when he is a little bigger and won't have to worry about such things. I sleep much lighter when he is with us, just because of those concerns. Henry slept well. He started stirring around 6AM.

Henry had a busy day. Veronica described him as much happier than he had been the past few days. His voice rung throughout the house.

Veronica helped me give Henry a much needed bath. Tara and Cuyler came in the afternoon. Tara arrived a little early. She worked on getting Henry in a crawl position. He had worked up an appetite. I ended up giving him a bowl of rice cereal before Cuyler arrived. He washed it down with his bottle.

Because Henry had eaten, Cuyler spent the time on Henry's sitting skills rather than feeding issues. Henry isn't eating what he needs, but he has done much better keeping foods down. We think that he is still combating the remnants of the virus, but we are hoping that things will be OK. Today, we weighed him at 15 lbs 2.5 ozs.

Having railed at the medical community on my last few postings, I will say that Tara and Cuyler are bright spots in my view. Tara is working hard as Henry's coordinator, making sure that Henry gets the therapists he needs. And Cuyler is one of the most intellectual and diligent medical personnel that we have come across. She is observant and methodical. I don't know Cuyler's age, but I'm getting that she is about 26 years old. She has a really good touch with babies (kind of reminds me of Joyce's touch with the neonates). It was her comment last week about the dosage on Henry's reflux meds that prompted me to ask Dr. Beskind about the dosage when we were in Urgent Care. Had I not asked about dosage, Henry would have still been on a dose that was appropriate for a 6 lbs not a 15 lbs baby.

Henry has a tendency to balance on the back of his pelvis when trying to sit. This doesn't work terribly well. Cuyler observed that he needs to be loading his weight toward the front of the pelvis. She also observed that his hamstrings are rather tight. She has given us some stretches to loosen the hamstrings. Basically, Henry doesn't lay his leg flat when trying to sit. The hamstrings come off the ground, which makes his body position less stable. It is unclear to us whether this is a "preemie issue" or somewhat genetic. I'm not sure that Jeff can lay his legs flat without a lot of work; he isn't very flexible! She also gave us some exercises to teach Henry how to balance with his arms tucked closer to his body when he is on his tummy. The way Cuyler breaks down movements is amazing. Cuyler grew up in Texas and received her B.A. and M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. Not a bad pedigree. She followed that up with a fellowship at the top neonatal unit in the country in Houston, where she specialized in feeding issues. I'm obviously in awe over this woman. She is first rate.

Cuyler said that Henry is much easier to work with compared to most babies. He tolerates a lot of handling. Henry's massage therapist Miriam had made a similar comment a few weeks ago. Henry does have his limits, but he does enjoy a lot of human interaction.

Jeff and I took Henry on a walk this evening. It was warm to the point where Jeff and Henry didn't need to kangaroo under Jeff's jacket. When we got back, Henry had a large bottle (100 mls) plus a large bowl of rice cereal made with 40 mls of Neocate and pears. For him, that's a large meal. And he kept most of it down. He spent some time with me and Jeff after the meal making a wide variety of ga-ba-ooh-eew and raspberry sounds.

Grandma and Grandpa brought dinner over tonight. They played with Henry for a little while, but then he crashed on his UofA blanket. He's still asleep. I'm hoping that he wakes up before going to his crib so that we can give him his reflux meds.