And for you Southern Hemisphere folks, Happy Autumn!
Remember that skinny little thing in the last bathtub shot? Well, check out this chunky monkey! 9 1/2 pounds, baby!! Look at that gut! Although, it's possible that she was a little gassy that night. She also looks a little more relaxed this time around.
Yes, I've been a bit slack with the posting lately. So let's see what's been going on .....
Charlotte had her Early Intervention evaluation in the beginning of March. There was an Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist, Speech Therapist, Developmental Therapist, the Coordinator and myself all scrunched into Charlotte's room at once. The only person who thought she needed some ongoing treatment was the Physical Therapist. Nothing major, just working on keeping her head looking in both directions and getting her neck stronger. Nothing that doesn't affect full-term babies as well. So at some point the state is going to send over a Physical Therapist to work with Charlotte on a regular basis. Luckily I work with her on my own, because it appears that the state doesn't work too fast. Surprize - Surprize.
Aunt Kari came in from St. Louis for a visit in early March. I even got the chance to go out with her for a bit and do a little shopping. You know you've got a crazy life when you're excited about buying yourself pajama pants and slippers. :-)
We finally got to see the GI (Gastrointestinal) doctor about her reflux and he seemed to think that she was doing fabulous; and he said she's much better off than most of the other babies he sees (I'm feeling pretty confident that that was the proper use of a semi-colon. Feel free to challenge me). At least it doesn't appear to hinder her eating and sleeping too much, so in that respect she's doing well. I'm just eagerly anticipating her outgrowing the foaming at the mouth, gagging, and waking up unable to breathe. That will be a good day for Peanut. However, I was happy to find out that the doctors are not going to take away her heart and O2 monitors until we feel comfortable with that change. Personally, I think she's going to have to be "episode-free" for quite awhile before I feel comfortable having her be without them. Maybe when she turns 18 and goes off to college. But seriously, it's comforting to know that I can make the call on that.
The Ophthalmologist saw her again in mid-March and he seems to be under the impression that while the retinopothy of prematurity (blood vessels growing all crazy) is not getting any worse, it also might not get any better, which he has assured me will not affect her eyesight in the long run. So we will continue to go back every couple weeks just to be sure. I'm hoping in the next month or so he gives us the sign-off and then we can cross one doctor off of our list.
Only to be replaced by new ones .... the audiologist and speech pathologist. Or is it speech therapist? I don't know the difference at this point. I think this is where I need to go back and brush up on my terminology, like "frequency" and "tone". Who knew that I should have actually paid attention in Music Appreciation class (or shown up for that matter)? Charlotte had her Audiology follow-up test yesterday. This was the two-hour long ABR (auditory brainstem response) test for which she needed to be asleep. The doctor put several electrodes on Peanut's head that read her brain waves as he played different sounds through little earplugs. As far as he can tell at the moment she has borderline moderate/severe hearing loss in both ears. We need to go back soon for another ABR so they can test a few more frequencies and redo some of yesterday's testing to check for accuracy and/or hearing loss stablilization (i.e. is it getting worse?). At that point it will be determined what should be pursued next. He seemed pretty confident that with an amplification device (hearing aid(s) or maybe implants down the road) she should be able to hear and speak pretty normally. So, it appears that we have a long road ahead of us, but I've been saying for awhile that if this is the worst thing that Charlotte has to deal with then she's pretty lucky. There are a lot of babies that come out of the NICU much worse off than she is. We can deal with this.
Brian's been busy with work and I'm busy trying to figure out what to do with Peanut in between naps and how to get her to sleep through the night. She's still on the O2. We were able to successfully wean her down to 1/8L, but she doesn't seem ready to take the next step down to 1/16L. I've tried it a couple times and she just doesn't respond very well. Maybe she needs to be a bit stronger. No need to push her. She'll come down when she's ready. The weather has been nice lately so we've been able to get out for a couple walks.
I decided this past weekend that I want to go back to school and take a couple of classes to prepare myself for nursing school. I think I'm going to start this summer and take something low-key like Intro to Psych. The hospital where Charlotte was at has an accelerated nursing program that lasts only 12.5 months for people who already have their bachelors degree, but there are 7 prerequisites I have to take before I can even apply. Stuff like microbiology, organic chemistry - all the classes that I made efforts to avoid when I was in college. So we'll see where this takes me, but I'm excited about the challenge! God you'd think that all the stuff I've been exposed to over the past year would count for at least a couple credits, no?!
I'd like to ask a favor from everyone .... There was a set of triplets born at the hospital two weeks before our kids were born and one of them is still there putting up quite a fight. She lost one of her brothers early on, and her other brother passed away two weeks ago. This little girl needs some positive energy so she can get stronger and get home with her parents. So, if you can please keep her and her family in your prayers I would really appreciate it. Thanks.
Isn't this a cute picture? Brian doesn't seem to agree, but I think it's just adorable. Whadda you think?Some people have asked if we are open for visitors and the answer is Yes! Please come over ... just as long as you don't have a cold, anyone you live with doesn't have a cold, you or anyone you live with hasn't had a cold recently, you or anyone you live with or anyone you know has never had a cold ... no, we don't have to go that far, but as long as you and yours are healthy please come on by!
