Pediatrician Appointment

Quick updates from Jacob's first pediatrician visit today:

Head Circumference: 50th percentile

Weight: 50th Percentile

Length: 10th Percentile

To sum it all up....he is a little short. :)

He gained 5.5 ounces since Saturday when he was weighed by the VNA nurse. He is 7 lbs 15 oz! One more ounce from 8 lbs and 2 ounces from my own birth weight! Jacob's doctor was shocked that he came home on no monitors, oxygen or meds. She said she is very pleased with his progress and we have an appt on 8/6 for his 4 month check-up and vaccinations. He is 4 months tomorrow, but since we had the first pedi appt today and we have VNA on Thursday and Tufts on Monday, she figured we'd give him a few days to chill.

That's all for now.

HOME (sort of)

We're home.....sort of. We are staying at my Dad's temporarily (he is on vacation) while our house airs out. We recently had our hardwood floors refinished and we are letting the house air out before we take the little bean back to his "real" home. Either way it is nice to have the little guy home with us and we are adjusting to life at home with a baby.

The first night wasn't so bad. I only had to get up twice at night for a feed. He pretty much eats every four hours and when he goes to the pediatrician on Tuesday she will let me know if I can let him sleep through the night. For now, they are having me wake him up every four hours regardless, but he pretty much is on that schedule anyways. I have only had to wake him up once.

VNA came to the house today to check on him and weigh him and he is 7 lb 9.5 oz. He has already gained half an ounce since he came home so at least we are going in the right direction and that is on no extra calories! He is taking a multi-vitamin with iron with his dinner feed, but that is it!

We have been having fun trying out all his new toys (bouncer seat, swing, play yard, etc.) and he is having a blast. He loves riding in the car and usually sleeps the entire time which is good because he has a big appointment coming up on the 28th at Tufts. He has an eye exam with Opthamology, an appointment with Endocrinology for his Rickets and an appointment with Urology for a circumcision and a look at his undescended testicles (if they don't come down on their own he will need surgery since this could cause fertility issues later in life) so maybe that will be my next update.

I have added a few new pics of his first days at home so enjoy and I will update soon.

GOING HOME!!!

JACOB IS COMING HOME!!!!!!!!

God Willing, Jacob will be discharged from the hospital on Thursday! This is such exciting news and I can't wait to bring our baby home!

He is having his carseat test tonight and they are tying up some loose ends (last minute blood work, a renal ultrasound, scheduling follow-up appointments, etc.). I am doing my overnight tomorrow night and then the doctor wants me to stay home Wednesday to rest and gear up for his homecoming on Thursday.

He weighs 7 lb 8 oz today and is doing great with his feeds. His tube came out on Saturday night at 8 PM (he took it out himself!) and he has been feeding by mouth for almost 48 hours all on his own!

He will be home before my goal date of 7/23! It has been a long road and it is not over just because he is coming home. There will be many doctor's appointments and he will have to play catch up with his peers for the next two years, but hopefully in time it will all come together.

I also forgot to mention over the past couple of weeks that they no longer hear Jacob's heart murmur (his VSD) and they have decided that it has closed. They are not even going to do a follow-up echo because it was so small that the doctor thinks if we haven't heard it in that long that it has closed by itself (which it usually would have done by the time he was born anyway so that was right on schedule).

Hopefully, my next post will be an update on how he is doing now that he is home. I am going to keep this website up and running indefinitely so if you have been receiving updates you will continue to do so.

Thank you so much to all for the continued support and prayers. Our miracle baby is coming home!!!

In the home stretch...

Here's the news for today: Jacob weighs 7 lb 6 oz (porker!) and he still has about 6 chins.

He had his follow-up eye appointment on Wednesday and there was good news. He is in regression!! Basically, this means the blood vessels in his eyes have stopped going crazy and are growing normally out into Zone 3. He has his next appointment in 3 weeks (instead of the normal two) and the FABULOUS news regarding this is that most likely I WILL BE BRINGING HIM TO HIS NEXT APPOINTMENT BECAUSE HE WILL BE HOME!!! The day nurse at the hospital told me she has a goal: to get Jacob home by the 23rd. Funny thing is that was my own goal from day one. Home by 4 months and no later!!!!

Yesterday he had a bottle at 8 AM, nursed at 11 AM, 2 PM and 5 PM and had a bottle at 8 PM!!! He didn't have to be gavaged for 18 hours! This is huge and hopefully they will let me do the overnight soon!!

We are getting ready to wrap everything up and get him moving towards home. I am bringing in his carseat soon so they can do the carseat test. All babies born before 37 weeks have to sleep for one hour in their carseats to make sure they can breathe in the sitting position. We also are scheduling his circumcision so that will be taken care of before he comes home. That is pretty much all that is left besides packing him up and taking him home.

Hopefully in the next week I can let everyone know what day they are shooting for. Yay for more progress!!

Calculating adjusted age

Tomorrow Jacob is 0 (zero!). Jacob's due date was July 7th which means that tomorrow Jacob will no longer be considered a fetus. He is now considered a newborn baby and his milestones and developments will be measured from tomorrow and not from the day he was born.

From here on out you may hear me refer to Jacob's "actual age" and his "adjusted age". Jacob's actual age is calculated from the day he is born and is how old he technically is. All of Jacob's milestones (crawling, rolling over, walking, talking, etc) will be based on Jacob's adjusted age. For example, on Tuesday the 8th Jacob's actual age will be 15 weeks, but his adjusted age will be 1 day old. If the average baby takes their first steps at 11 months old and Jacob takes his first steps at 11 months old Jacob will be 11 months adjusted and 14.5 months actual.

Today Jacob weighed in at 7 pounds exactly!!!! He is still doing great nursing, but the doctors and nurses are still feeding him on their schedule which is frustrating. I would prefer to feed him on demand because when I show up at his designated feeding time and he is not interested in eating he just sleeps. Today they actually let me feed him when he was up (an hour before his normal feed) and he did great!! When he nurses he does awesome, but it is the difference between him wanting to eat and the doctors designating a time for him to eat. We are going to discuss this with the doctor tomorrow. Hopefully, they will see it my way because this is the only thing preventing him from coming home.

I guess that is all for today. I have posted a new picture of his fat, little face with no oxygen!! You wouldn't believe it is the same baby that weighed 1 and a half pounds at birth! He changes so much day to day. There isn't much to update everyone on now that he is doing so well. He is just gaining weight and eating and soon enough he will be home where he belongs.

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend and enjoyed their time off (if you had time off!).