Gumdrop's Journey: busy week

Sunday, June 21, 2009

busy week

It has been a busy week around here and it seems like our blogging has been taking a back burner. Here is a quick recap of the past few days:

* Charlie went for a follow up with Dr Ratner (surgeon) on Wednesday. The biggest news there was his weight gain - - He gained 1 pound, 6 oz in just a week! Dr Ratner is very pleased with his growth and thinks things look great. There was a little suture starting to stick out of the end of his incision, but they managed to get most of it out. I asked him about Charlie's chest (It indents in the center of his sternum). This is a defect called pectus excavatum and it was caused by his repair surgery. Dr Ratner is not concerned and figures we will wait a few years and see what happens with it as he grows.

*After his appointment with Dr Ratner, we stopped up at the NICU for a visit and everyone was so happy to see him! They think he looks great and has gotten so big! Dee, Tana, and Sherrie - three of our favorite nurses - were there. We promised to come back again in hopes of seeing some other people that we have missed!

*It seems that stopping the reglan has not had any big effects on him. He has not started spitting any more than he had, so that is good. He has not had any spitting problems (KNOCK ON WOOD) in a while! The zantac is doing its job too, it seems. He still has a couple reflux issues a day, but they are manageable. We forgot his zantac dose earlier today and he has been noticeably more uncomfortable unfortunately.

*We left him yesterday for the first time since he has been home. We are so lucky to have so many people from the NICU who love him so much though because Dee was able to watch him for us while we went to our friends' baby shower. He definitely loved spending the day with Dee too!

*He has started using his bouncer seat successfully and he loves it! We still have to wrap a blanket around him to help hold him up, but his feet reach the floor and he loves bouncing around and playing with all the toys around him.

*EVERYTHING is going in his mouth lately!! He is always chewing on his hands and he gets his toys up to his face and gnaws on them. If he can't get it in his mouth, he will just hold it against his mouth and lick. I am wondering if he is going to have teeth popping through anytime soon.

*We are still feeding him about every 3 hours - some times more, some times less. He takes about 5 oz of breast milk at every feeding lately. We are probably going to have to start supplementing with formula some time in the next couple of weeks because my supply of frozen breast milk is quickly dwindling away and I am not producing enough to keep up with him unfortunately. We are going to talk to the pediatrician next month about starting some real food too.

So, Charlie is growing and changing everyday it seems! He is getting so big! It makes me a little sad to see him growing so quickly, but I am so happy that he is showing us how healthy he really is. It is exciting to see him developing so well and being such a "normal" baby. We were talking earlier about how we spent so many weeks just looking at him before because there was nothing more we could do when he was so sick and we need to make sure we remember to do that still. We do enjoy and appreciate every little thing, but it is always good to just take a step back and look at him too.