7 Months

I am a little behind, but it's for good reason - Samuel is now HOME!!!!  I am beyond thrilled to be doing this update while holding Samuel in my arms in our living room.  God is so very good!  We brought you home after you spent 205 days in the NICU and almost 10 days away from you turning 7 months old.  You will be 4 months adjusted next week.  Let's see what you've been up to...

~ You are now 12 lbs 9 oz and about 23 inches long.  Now that you are out of the hospital, I can go back to my customary units of measure :-)  Your head circumference is 19.5 inches.  I'm not sure of percentiles because I don't know if they go off real age or adjusted.  All I know is that the doctor says you are growing perfectly!

~ You are still in size 1 diapers, but will probably go to size 2 soon.  You are just starting to grow out of most of your 0-3 month clothes, but some 3-6 month is still too big.  You can comfortably wear 3 month size clothes now.

~  After your swallow study, we had to thicken all of your bottles to a honey consistency because you had several "deep penetrations" to your vocal chords.  Right now, you are taking about 80-105 mls every 3.5 hours (3:30, 7:00, 10:30, 2:00, 5:30, 9:00, 12:30 roughly).  We add either Thick-it or rice cereal to each bottle.  You get your Prilosec and multivitamin with your rice cereal bottles.  Your feedings have been the most difficult thing since you've been home.  This is mainly due to your awful reflux.  We took you to a GI specialist today to figure out what's causing you to throw up so much.  

~  You are still on 1/2 liter of oxygen.  Coming home on oxygen is way more intense than you'd think because there are so many things to learn.  We had to learn how to turn on/off the oxygen tanks, drain them, change them out, etc.  It also limits where you can go in the house because the cord to the main machine is not very long.

~  We are going to a multitude of appointments for you.  Right now, we take you to your PCP once a week, Dr. Bradford every 3 weeks for your eyes, and ACH for follow-ups with neurosurgery and urology.  This doesn't include the home health nurse that comes once a week and the ot/pt therapy you will start soon.

~  You are sleeping great at night, but cat nap during the day.  You've started fighting sleep almost all morning, but take several little naps in the afternoon.  At night, we have to wake you up for your bottles.  Of course, you sleep best in our arms or the pack-n-play.

~  You smile and laugh a lot and I love it!!!  You are also talking up a storm.  We have many conversations throughout the day.   

~ You are working so hard to roll from your belly to your back because you hate tummy-time.  You'll get there, but for now, you are pushing yourself onto your side.

~ You already have your big brother wrapped around your finger.  He doesn't like it if you cry and we can't get to you immediately.  He loves to help with diaper changes and picking you up.  My fave is when he'll pat your back  to calm you down and give you a goodnight kiss.  I love my boys!

 

While life is full-on chaos right now, I wouldn't change any part of it.  You are finally home and adjusting to your new environment and I couldn't ask for more.  I look forward to all of the milestones you will start reaching in the next months and years!