Talking Up a Storm

We went for a walk this morning. Jeff was going to let me sleep in, but after lying in bed for a few minutes thinking of all the things I needed to do, I decided to get up for our walk. It was a nice morning.

Grandpa Kenski came in the morning, and Grammy Kenski came in the afternoon. Henry weighed 12 lbs 7 ozs. Both grandparents reported that Henry played for at least an hour in his bassinet on their respective shifts. He likes to kick up against the side of the bassinet. Over the weekend, we switched the Pack 'N Play around, so that it no longer has the diaper changing station on one half. This makes the bassinet twice as large. Jeff was also able to reposition the toys on the mobile so that Henry could reach some of them and kick others. Henry likes to talk to his toys. He's very vocal when he's in the bassinet.

I called Dr. Bianchi's office this morning to schedule Henry's December appointment and to ask if they could order the non-preservative flu shot. Ruth called me back. Basically, they won't order it. They said to check with the Pima County Health Department. I had called them earlier in the morning (got the number off their website for the immunizations division, but no one answered). I explained to Ruth that I didn't really want Henry to spend an afternoon in the waiting room of the health department. He's more likely to catch something there than if he didn't get a shot at all. It didn't help. They won't order it. I said that I'd pay for any extra charges that they'd incur. No go. But she gave me a different number at the health department. Called them, and they do have Fluzone preservative-free shots upon request. So, it looks like that's where Henry will get his flu shot from the county health department on Thursday during the afternoon clinic. I plan to call them tomorrow to ask about non-peak hours and if they can arrange any appointment (considering he's still on oxygen).

Jeff and I have looked at some of the research on shots. We recognize that the results aren't conclusive about the relationship between autism and shots, but we don't want to take any risks. We'd rather be conservative about it. I don't think that it is unrealistic for doctors to listen to parents about not wanting mercury (thimerisol) in shots. I read some articles that said that many pediatricians are refusing to order the preservative-free shots because they feel it validates parental concern over thimerosal. Given that the results are inconclusive, I find it maddening that pediatricians as a group could be so arrogant as to presume that they know everything about autism, because they don't. The research is not conclusive at all. There are three major hypotheses about the causes of autism from shots. (1) Mercury in the shots causes autism, (2) An immune response is trigger by shots that results in autism. and (3) Some kids have a genetic predisposition for autism, which is facilitated by the shots. I'm guessing that a combination of 2 and 3 are the most plausible suspects. That said, I don't want to chance it with number 1. The studies claiming that thimerisol doesn't cause autism are rather weak (for a wide variety of reasons that I won't detail here). And we know of a few parents whose children developed signs of autism within a couple days of having their MMRs.

I called the secondary pulmonologist's office to make the Synagis appointment. Rhoda from Schaeller Anderson called on Friday to say that the shots had been approved. We have an appointment on Friday at 3PM for the shot. Apparently, it is a rather painful shot.

I headed to the mall this afternoon to get some new clothes. I hadn't gone shopping for clothes since I bought my maternity ware in March/April. I stopped by Babies R Us and bought Henry a bunch of the toys that he can put in his mouth. I also bought him a new tub...the current one has a terrible design that leaks every time we use it.

Jeff took Henry for a walk while I was out. We had dinner while watching the UofA vs. NAU game. Henry liked to watch the television. I think that it has facilitated his head movement. We'll be feeding him a bottle, and he'll turn his head well past 90 degrees to see what's going on. Normally, I wouldn't be too pleased about the TV watching, but the head turning is great for overcoming the torticollis.

Henry is sleeping now. I'm on the first watch of the night.

Henry Consults for the NAES

Henry slept for four hours straight after his bath last night. Then, he got up every two hours and ate. He slept in-between feedings. This is a marked improvement over the first two months of him being home. Jeff let me sleep. I think that I slept 6 hours straight, which was amazing.

Jeff took care of Henry today, as I had work to catch up on. I'm very far behind in my work. I had hoped to catch up Sunday, but then the whole cold-allergy thing came up. Jeff and I don't want to take chances with Henry's health. Preemies, especially chronic lung disease babies like Henry, are more susceptible to being hospitalized if they catch RSV. 2% of 125,000 kids who are hospitalized for RSV each year die from it. We are doing everything we can to keep him from being hospitalized. Jeff came to the conclusion that we shouldn’t go to any of the UofA basketball games. Just as Henry can catch something from a crowd, so can we. I agree (unfortunately). My parents have awesome basketball seats. We love going to the games. But we can wait a year and watch the games on our TV. Henry is certainly worth this small sacrifice.

As I began working on editing a book chapter this morning, the "blue screen of death" popped up when I started my computer. My computer is a Gateway laptop and truly a piece of fill-in-the-blank. I hadn't backed up my computer in a really long time, and I got a bit nervous when I saw the "blue screen of death." So, Jeff went off to get me a backup hard drive. About 10 minutes after he left the house, the National Annenberg Election Survey (NAES) team called. We had a conference call...I managed to miss the email. Took my by surprise, but Henry was pretty good during it. He did voice his opinions a couple times during the meeting (e.g., he felt committed to the religion battery and said so).







After Jeff got back, he took over Henry duty while I finished up the call. Then, I got the backup going. Luckily, my computer did boot up so that I could transfer files to the new hard drive. Unfortunately, my keyboard has been hit and miss on working. This computer...well, it is junk. In fact, last Monday, when I was at school, one of the computer staff members came by to install the new version of SPSS 15 on it. The school's new rules are that we (the faculty) aren't allowed to be the administrators on our own machines, because we might download software and viruses inappropriately. It's a stupid rule. Incidentally, it means that we can't download software updates (including virus protection software) without the assistance of the SBS computer staff. Anyway, the computer guy, Kellen, said, "I'd kill myself if I had to work on your laptop each day." This was after working on my computer less than 10 minutes. Again, it is a piece of junk.

Henry weighed 12 lbs 4.5 ozs today. Same as yesterday.

Jeff and I took Henry out for a walk around 3:30PM (much earlier than usual). Henry had been fusing. He didn't want his bottle. He didn't want to play in the bassinet. He was just cranky. He seemed to calm down when put in the Baby Bjorn. By the time we made it past Swani and Hal's house (the house next to us), Henry had already passed out. Guess he just needed a nap.

When we got back home, Henry had some food and passed out on Jeff for about two hours. We decided that it was OK for my dad to come over for a little bit. My mom is fairly certain that she had allergies, not a cold. And my dad hasn’t had any symptoms. So he came over to hold Henry for awhile. He arrived right around the time that Henry woke up. Henry was mad, mad, mad. He woke up screaming for food.

Jeff went to bed around 9:15PM. My dad left around 9:45PM. Henry slept on the couch, cuddling into me until 12:45AM. He woke up very upset again. I guess he’s just not used to the feeling of an empty stomach yet. I gave him a 105 ml bottle, which he drank and fell asleep. I woke Jeff up around 1:45AM, so I could pump and get some shut-eye for a little bit. Hopefully, Henry will repeat the sleeping every 2 plus hours before needing to eat. It really is nice when we get to nap in-between them.

3 Months Old (Age Corrected)

Today was Henry's due date birthday of 3 months. We went on walks in the morning and evening. Jeff did most of the Henry sitting today, so that I could work. I believe that they watched a lot of football together. At one point in the afternoon, Jeff took Henry on the back porch to get some fresh air. Henry weighed 12 lbs 4.5 ozs. He didn't eat that much today and was a bit of a pain to feed. He kept sticking his tongue out, which usually means he is hungry, but then he would move his head a lot, as though he didn't want the bottle.









Henry was supposed to go over to my parents' house today. But my mom called and said that she had a stuffy nose. She thought it was allergies, but we didn't want to take any chances. My dad was going to come over and watch him, but considering that one is a carrier of the cold a day or two before one shows symptoms, we decided that we'd take care of Henry today. My dad didn't want to break his streak of seeing Henry every day. So he went to Walgreens and got a face mask. He stopped by for 12 minutes, just to say hello. There is some controversy over the effectiveness of the face mask. But some of the NICU nurses said that it was OK to use, but the effectiveness wears off after 12 minutes or so. My dad's Henry streak is still intact.




In the evening, Henry was indecisive about eating. I did some tummy time with him. It didn't go well. He kept face planting himself. Frustrating. We ended up giving him a bath, which tired him out. He and Jeff are asleep. I'm signing off to sleep now too.

Feeling Almost Human Again

There wasn't too much excitement today, which is nice. Henry and I went for a walk this morning and let Kate sleep. We took a different route than normal and saw a coyote fairly close up. Our dogs didn't even notice as they were too busy smelling the Hallmark cards left by all the other dogs. Henry ended up sleeping most the way through the walk. He used to fall asleep almost every walk. However, for the last couple weeks he has been staying awake through the whole walk, except today.

He weighed 12lbs 2oz's. That's down 1 oz from yesterday due to a rather ginormous bowel movement coupled with Kate and my tempering of the fortification of his breast milk. We were getting concerned that he was growing too fast and backed off a bit. We would like to see 1 to 1.5 oz gain each day. Tomorrow we will likely step it up a little more to maintain the gain while trying not to pack on too much too quickly. It's a fine line.

We both were able to go out today at different times to run errands and such while leaving Henry in the others care. I gave the dogs a bath and did household chores when Kate's mother came over in the afternoon. Kate was able to get some work done before we took him for his evening walk. Henry has slept quite a bit today. As I type he is in the midst of 2 hour nap on grandpa out in the living room.

I have been wary of talking about his newly found ability to sleep for longer periods of time, 3-4 hours at a stretch. I felt several times in the NICU that when I blogged about positive progress it jinxed things and then he would backslide. However, I simply must say that having him sleep for much of the night has been wonderful. I can tell that I'm more productive at home and at work already and it has only been two days of getting around 6 hours of sleep a night. I just hope that he keeps it up and we can leave our zombie phase behind us. It's nice to shower on daily basis and not worry about knocking my teeth out on my desk as a fall asleep at my computer.

I've always been one to sleep a lot, even back to childhood when I would miss the Saturday morning cartoons and be greeted by "Good afternoon" when I finally stumbled out of bed. I never would have thought that I could survive with 2-3 hours of sleep a day, often broken up into 1 hours blocks, like Kate and I have done for the last few months.

Hopefully this is also the sign of a growth spurt. He's been in what might be considered a girth spurt for some time now, gaining enough to make it onto the growth curve for weight. He has gained in length but he is still well below the curve in that category. His head circumference has been on the growth curve so it would seem that at some point he will shoot up and grow into his weight and his head. If he keeps gaining weight and doesn't pick up the length it will make clothing a challenge. It is already difficult to get his large noggin through the neck holes of some of his outfits. The newborn size is perfect for length but fits a bit snug around the middle. Now this is a problem I am happy to have.

Daddy's Boy

We went for a walk a little earlier than usual this morning. I had a conference call with the NAES team from 8-10AM. Jeff had work too. When we left the house for the morning walk, it was 52 degrees. I was concerned that it was too cold. I should point out that I think it is appropriate to start using the fire place when it hits below 75 degrees. Jeff contended that it was hardly arctic weather, and Henry would be just fine if we bundled him up. We put his sweat pants on him and his UofA jacket.

Henry weighed 12 lbs 3 ozs today. My dad came in the morning, and my mom came in the afternoon. I spent the morning on the telephone, and then I headed off to work for a faculty meeting. Today was my longest workday yet (since Henry was born, that is).

Apparently, Mr. Henry was a bit fussy today. But this resulted in an interesting development. At one point, my mom was holding Henry, and he just wasn't happy. Jeff said that he took Henry for a little while and was able to console him. Guess he just wanted his daddy. One of the questions we have been asked by the those assessing his development is: "When he's upset, are you able to console him by talking to him?" Prior to today, I would have said "no." Usually when he's upset, he wants a bottle. He is not patient (probably gets it from me). When he's hungry, he isn't distracted by conversation (also gets this from me). Anyway, I was pleased that Jeff was able to soothe him via non-food methods.

He was a bit fussy for me this evening. I managed to distract him with video. I took him over to Jeff's computer and played a short segment of him squealing and talking. Henry watched the clip several times. And when he made noises in the video, he would make some noises at the screen. I'm not sure what the development literature would have to say about this. I know that babies like pictures of other babies. So I figured that video would be OK too.








We gave Henry a bath tonight. We took off his cannula while giving him a bath. His pulmonologist said it was OK to take it off for short periods of time. We wanted to give his nose a break. He enjoyed the bath. Jeff was talking to him throughout it, and Henry loved it. He very much loves his daddy. I gave him a bottle after his bath. I can't remember if it was before or after the bath, but I tried breast feeding him directly. He tolerated it for a few minutes but wasn't that interested. He ended up falling asleep in my arms from 9PM to 1AM. Jeff then gave him a bottle. He crashed in Jeff's arms. I left Jeff and Henry sleep on the couch for awhile. Then, I got Jeff up to transfer Henry to the crib so that Jeff could stretch out on the bed. This is the second night in a row where Henry has slept for just about 4 hours straight. If it is like last night, he'll wake up to feed on about 2 ozs every two hours from here on out. This is so much nicer than before! We love that we can actually get a few naps in (even an hour straight is awesome for us!).








On that note, I'd better get some shut-eye while I can. I'm not particularly tired right now, but I'll try the "Sleep when the baby sleeps" approach.

One last thing, Jeff took a cute picture of Marley (dog) and Princess (cat) Thursday night. Marley plopped herself down on the pillow next to Princess. Marley is a rather needy pup. She isn't much interested in other animals. She craves human attention (24/7). I guess she was getting a little desperate and decided to make do with snuggle time with Princess.

Frustrations with the Medical "Profession"

Henry weighed 12 lbs 2 ozs today. He was 11 lbs 15.5 ozs yesterday. I did some tummy time with Henry yesterday morning. He wasn't thrilled and protested by falling asleep on his stomach on the floor. My mom came over around 11AM yesterday and stayed through the afternoon. I had some data analysis to complete for a meeting with the National Annenberg Election Survey (NAES) team. I had my first conference call with them last week. There's a meeting every Wednesday afternoon. And then we are having another Friday morning. After the meeting Wednesday afternoon, I rushed to school to meet with a job candidate for an assistant professor position in my department. We had a nice chat. Incidentally, she has a sister who had a micropreemie too (a boy who is now 7 and doing well).

My dad came over in the evening to help with Henry. Henry is a particularly good sleeper when his Grandpa is around. See Exhibit C (left).

We went for a nice walk this morning. When we got back, I realized that the pulmonologist's office where Henry is supposed to get the Synagis shots never called us on Monday. Jeff and my dad had taken Henry for his appointment last Friday, only to be told that the shots weren't available. They didn't have the courtesy to call us the afternoon before and cancel the appointment. So Jeff and my dad wasted a trip out there (it's about 35 minutes away). They said they'd call Monday. And didn't. I called this morning and got some story about how the insurance company didn't approve of it yet (like they couldn't tell us that before we scheduled the appointment for the shot). I'm a bit peeved because RSV season started at the beginning of the month. By the time everything gets sorted out, it will be mid-month at the earliest. Micropreemies like Henry MUST get this shot. It is a monthly shot. And I'm teaching students who are already coughing and hacking in class around me. Apparently, Schaller Anderson (the insurance) wanted the pulmonologist to send a prescription for the shot, in addition to the standard paper work that every other insurance company in the country uses for the RSV shots (Synagis). I was a bit short with the person at the pulmonologist office because this should have been handled weeks ago. I also asked about the flu shot and if they could get one without Thimerisol. She said that they make one just for kids under four. Can we say "begging the question"? I said, "So it doesn't have Thimerisol in it?" She said, "No, it has it in it." I asked if they could order one without it (which I know is possible), and she said that they wouldn't do it. Lazy. Too much trouble to pick up a phone and place an order.

Then, I talked to Judith from the Blake Foundation. She said that Henry will have a new development case manager through the Division of Developmental Disabilities. DDD is picking up his case because of his "rough start." We meet with the new case manager on 11/19. I asked about the Physical Therapist (PT). She said it will have to be coordinated through DDD. I pointed out that she first mentioned getting an PT a month ago. By the time we see the person at DDD, another month will have passed. Isn't the point of "early intervention" to give kids these services early? She said that they have 45 days to file paper work and that's how long things take. Oh, and we won't be able to see Cuyler the OT until DDD approves. I think that it is fair to say that the early invention system bureaucracy is unimpressive to put it diplomatically (I have a bunch of other terms that describe it better, but they are the kinds of words not really appropriate for this forum).

I think that the term "profession" when it refers to people in medicine should often have quotations around it. Many medical offices don't strike me as professional. It angers me that people don't call back when they say that they will. It bothers me that many medical staff personnel are really, really lazy or downright incompetent. And if one isn't assertive, then bad things can happen to one's kids.

My mom came this afternoon. Mary Beckam from the NICU visited. She's with the NICU's developmental follow-up program. Mary was the nurse who got Henry moved from Pod 2 (loud pod) to Pod 4 (quiet pod). She went through the Denver Development Screening Test for Henry's corrected age with us. It was nice to see his corrected age being used. On the test that Judith gave a few weeks ago, they go by the kids' actual ages, which seems rather dumb to me (but I think that they do it to justify their program, so the kids end up looking worse than they are...which is OK by me...if it helps Henry get the services he needs). Anyway, Mary asked questions appropriate for Henry's corrected age. And he's doing OK so far. I told her that I thought his arms were a little weaker than they should be (not uncommon for preemies). She showed us some positioning techniques for his tummy time, which we hadn't seen before, so that was good. It was nice to see Mary again, and she'll be visiting us again in a month. We like Mary. The word professional can be used without quotation marks for her.

This evening was gorgeous. We ran into Hal and Paul on our walk. They commented on how Henry was looking around more than he was even last week. It's true. He's not just focusing on single objects. He's scanning his surroundings, which is fun to watch. When we got back to the house, we went out to the porch. Jeff had a glass of wine. I had a Vitamin water. And Henry had a nice bottle of breast milk. Henry was turning his head from side to side quite a bit (he must have heard me tell Mary that he rarely turns his head to the left side).

My dad came in the evening to hold his grandson. Henry fell asleep after having a bottle. He's still in his bassinet sound asleep. Once he is up, he's getting a bath.

Manneken Pis

Henry continues to grow like a weed. Well, I should say, gain weight. He is still rather short, and he's turning into quite the little chub. He weighed 11lbs 13ozs when we weighed him this morning.

We took him to Dr. Bianchi's office, our primary pediatrician, this afternoon and had some fun with bodily functions. He first weighed in at 12lbs 2ozs. When they weigh him, they do it without the diaper. This is rather dangerous. Last time we were there, Henry peed on the nurse Sean. This time was no different. It was a rather large output.

Dr. Bianchi was rather surprised at his weight gain and re-calibrated the scale and had him weighed again. This time he weighed 12lbs 0ozs, probably due to the prodigious pee from earlier. For good measure, he peed on Sean again the second time. Kate says we have to get her something for Christmas.

This little escapade made me think of our trip to Belgium where they have a statue called Manneken Pis, a little boy peeing. I thought it was funny when Henry had his little indiscretions, but I can't imagine immortilizing it with a statue.

In addition to the superb kidney function, Dr. Bianchi thought Henry was doing very well. His weight gain is excellent. His length is increasing even though it isn't keeping up with his weight. The tightness in his neck was much better. He even thought we probably wouldn't need to do the exercises to stretch the neck anymore. He wants Henry to have a flu shot but the only kind he has includes Thimerisol which includes mercury and has been blamed for causing autism. He doesn't seem willing to go out of his way to secure a flu shot that doesn't include Thimerisol. He recommended we see if the pulminologist who is going to do the Synagis shot would be able to secure one for him. I'm rather shocked that any pediatrician would give shots with Thimerisol to children. Dr. Bianchi was quick to point out that the vaccines have had Thimerisol removed from them because of parental concerns, yet he would turn around and inject him with it via the flu vaccine without a second thought.

Yesterday Grandma came in the morning, and Grandpa came in the afternoon. Henry weighed 11lbs 11.5ozs. Kate was at work so it was just Henry and me in the evening for a little while. I think of it as boys night. Me, Henry, Monday night football. Of course the football game stunk as the Steelers routed the Ravens. Henry and I decided to snooze in the chair until Kate came home.

Kate took the first shift with Henry from 11pm to 3am, because I was feeling pretty exhausted. I believe they snoozed on the couch for much of the time. After I took over, I fed him and then fell asleep in the chair in the living room. By 5am I decided I needed to put Henry in his crib. You would think the crib was electrified. As soon as his back touched the mattress, his eyes flew open, and he went from being asleep to being wired. He wasn't screaming for food, so I let him play around a while in the crib hoping he would wear down and sleep. No such luck, he just played around flailing his arms and kicking his legs and being rather content in doing so.

By the time he started crying for milk, it was 6:30. I fed him two bottles and then took him for his morning walk, letting Kate get a few extra Z's. Kate took care of him until Grandma showed up around 10:30. She watched him until we had the Dr. Bianchi appointment. Currently, Grandpa is taking care of Henry, and they are watching Dancing With the Stars.

Sleeping at the Grandparents' House

Yesterday (Saturday), Henry weighed 11 lbs 7 ozs. We went for our walk in the morning. Grandma came over in the afternoon. Jeff and I went to a party at Nick and Janice's house, right across the street from us. They are our neighbors with the horses. It was a party filled with neighbors. We met a few people we hadn't met before. Jeff brought some Henry pictures to show everyone.

People were disappointed that we didn't bring Henry. And everyone's always surprised when we say that we might not be able to have people over for two years. Fortunately, no one said anything dumb like, "Oh, you are just being overprotective." Or my personal favorite, "Aren't you glad that you didn't have to deal with the back pain of having a 9 lb baby?" These remarks (or variations of them) are quite commonly told to the preemie mom. Yes, someone (an assistant at one of Henry's doctor's offices incidentally) said me the latter. I've also had a few variations on that theme said to me as well. To date, I have refrained from replying, "Why yes. Staying in the NICU for 109 days, facing death a few times, watching my son cry as he got poked by yet another needle, going home without my son each night, watching other babies die in the NICU, wondering about my child's future and whether he'll be able to lead an independent life, etc. was soooo much easier than the inconvenience of a couple months of back pain." I'm always a bit relieved to have a social interaction where something stupid like that isn't said. When I haven't had much sleep, my patience (not my strong suit to begin with) tends to wear thin.

Anyway, we had a wonderful time with the neighbors. They were all delightful. When Jeff and I got back, Henry was watching "Pirates of the Caribbean" with my mom (my mom is a Johnny Depp fan). I think our plan of keeping him away from the television until he is two is out the window. By the time we got back to the house, it was too late to walk the dogs (second evening walk missed). Grandpa came over in the evening. Henry slept quite a bit, while Grandpa was over.

I took a nap. Got up around midnight. Alas, the breast milk pump was calling my name. Jeff suggested that I go back to bed. At some point, he put Henry in the crib, and Henry slept for two hours straight! I can't remember whether it was before or after the two hour marathon snooze-fest, but at some point, I got up again because it was too quiet. Turned out that Jeff was giving Henry a bottle, and they were just being quiet. I love it when Jeff is giving Henry a bottle, and Henry sees me and then gives me a huge smile.

In the morning (Sunday), we went for our walk. We came back and weighed Henry at 11 lbs 10 ozs. We then came over to my parents' house, which is where we are now. Jeff dropped off some gifts at the NICU for Henry's primary nurses and associates. I worked on an encyclopedia entry. Took the dogs for a walk. Am about to edit the encyclopedia entry now. Jeff is currently taking a nap. Henry has slept for a good part of the day. He has arisen for his bottles but then promptly crashes. I suspect that he's going to have a lot of energy tonight.

Super Terrific Happy Vomit Baby

Thursday was a busy day. My mom came over in the late morning. I went into school for my first doctoral committee (from the faculty side). Carmen had the oral defense of her written exams. And then, we had our first job candidate, Jeff N., come for his interview. Jeff N. is an Annenberg alum. I was his TA for research methods in Fall of 1999. He gave an excellent presentation on smoking and communication campaigns. During the day, I got to catch up with some of my colleagues (Dale Kunkel, Jake Harwood, Dana Mastro, and Joe Bonito). Unfortunately, the need to run to my office and pump every three hours made these conversations rather short. I called home a few times, so that Jeff could mockingly tell me that Henry was falling apart without me.

I went out to dinner with Jeff N. and two colleagues, Dale Kunkel and Steve Rains. It was a nice dinner at Pastiche. I think my weariness was beginning to show toward the end of the evening. At one point, I was telling Jeff N. about our faculty evaluations and how they are measured on three things. "Teaching, service...teaching, service..." and then I paused, turned to Steve and said, "Steve, what's the other thing that we do here?" Completely blanked out on "research" (the thing that I'm best at). Sigh. Good thing I was amongst colleagues who also happen to be friends.

While I was at work, my dad came over in the evening to help Jeff. Jeff was passed out on the couch when I came home. My dad said that the Marley and Bits took turns laying on Jeff while he was asleep.

On Friday morning, I had a faculty meeting with Jeff N., and Henry had his first Synagis appointment. Jeff and my dad took Henry for his shot. They got there only to be informed that the Synagis hadn't been delivered, so no shot. Ugh. It would have been nice if they had called us the afternoon before so as not to waste Jeff's and my dad's time.

Jeff weighed Henry at 11 lbs 5.5 ozs. My mom came over in the afternoon. Jeff and I took a long nap. We woke up too late to take Henry and the dogs for a walk. It was too dark by 6PM. Poor puppies.

Henry took long naps on the couch in the evening. Jeff and I finally watched the last two episodes of the Sopranos final season. What a great show.

Jeff took the first Henry watch, and I got up at 5AM for the next shift. Henry sucked down 80 mls in 10 minutes and then proceeded to projectile vomit all over me and the couch. He hasn't done that in weeks. He did it twice. But, he smiled after each vomit episode, so at least he is
happy. I've dubbed him the Super Terrific Happy Vomit Baby.

The Happy Halloween Monkey

Several weeks ago, I bought Henry a costume. Jeff thought I was crazy, because at the time, Henry was still in preemie clothing. The costume is size 0 to 3 months. Well, the time came yesterday for Henry to try on his costume, and it fit well. Henry was the cutest Happy Halloween monkey on the planet. We dressed him up for our early morning walk. We ran into our neighbor Paul, who got to admire Henry. And, Henry put a smile on the faces of some people who drove by.

In the morning, we had an appointment with Dr. Hassan, the GI specialist. No blood in the stool samples we brought, which means that he has been OK on the Similac fortifier. So, this month, I'm adding a little bit of soy and milk back into my diet. And, we are using the old, frozen milk back from July when I was eating dairy and soy. We decided to dump the May and June milk a few weeks ago. It was a bit sad seeing about three weeks of pumping get thrown in the garbage. Technically, it might have been OK to use. They say that it can last 3-6 months. Because we didn't know which end on the range our old milk was, we decided it was better to be safe; so out the old milk went.

I told Dr. Hassan about Henry's high alk-phos levels. He has decided to order an alk-phos test for next time as well as an "electrophonesis" analysis. I haven't had time to Google "electrophonesis" yet, but I gather that it refers to a test that tells the doctors what percentage of the alk-phos is coming from the liver, intestines, and/or bones. Dr. Hassan didn't think that the 673 alk-phos was something to worry about quite yet, but it is higher than it should be.

Henry's weight at the doctors office was 11 lbs 3 ozs. Length: 21.5 inches. Head circumference: 39.1 cm.

Grandpa came over in the afternoon to take care of Henry.







Jeff and I put Henry's costume back on him before his evening stroll. We ran into Evonne who loved Henry's monkey suit.

Jeff and I settled in for a nice family night with Henry sleeping, while we watched the Sopranos. But, of course, Jeff's work called, putting the kaibosh on family night. I wish that his work would at least give him time and a half for his extra work, but no. They give him comp days, which are a joke. Since Jeff has worked there, every single one of his comp days (except for three) have been interrupted by "can you do this one quick thing" from someone at his work. They were good about giving him some time off when Henry was born, but frankly it was due. I can't tell you how many 70 hours weeks Jeff has put in at his company with effectively no compensation since he's been there.

Jeff was freed by 10:45PM and then took over the Henry evening shift.

Jeff brought Henry to me in bed, where I gave him a bottle. Henry and I also talked. Jeff laid in bed too. While I left Henry and Jeff to pump and blog, Henry...well, Henry made a mess of the bed. Poor fitting diaper. On the bright side, it presented a great time to weigh him This morning, we was 11 lbs 5 ozs.