Macie at One Month

Macie turned one month old on April 29th, just five days after her release from the hospital.  We were just starting to get into a rhythm at home, and it was really like we had just brought home a newborn.  It will be very interesting to see Macie's progress during her first year.  Because she was born two months early, she will  likely meet many milestones about two months past normal expectation for her chronological age.  However, she may do some things early.  Because of this, we now deal in both chronological and adjusted ages for Macie.

On April 29th, Macie's chronological age was one month.  Her adjusted age was 37 weeks of gestation, or what I am calling negative three weeks old.

Stats:
The stats that we were given compared Macie to other one month olds that were born full term.  Obviously, she was on the low end of all scales.

Height: 18.75 inches, 1%
Weight: 5 lbs 10.5 oz, not on the scale for percentages
Head Circumference: 34 cm, 2%

Compared to other one month old babies born at 33 weeks her percentages were:
Height: 24%
Weight: 5%
Head Circumference: 33%

Her weight, although a low percentage compared to height, is not of great concern.  Macie has steadily put on weight since birth and is continuing to climb.  Although she exclusively drinks breastmilk, it is fortified with a formula called Neosure that adds 2 extra calories per ounce.

Milestones:
Macie had many achievements of interest during her first month, most of which are documented in the NICU updates that I did.  Here are a couple of other things to note:

• Rolled from front to side - 4 weeks
• Lift head at 45 degree angle - 4 weeks
• Turn head from side to side on tummy - 3 weeks

At one month Macie is wearing newborn diapers and preemie clothes.

Feeding:

Macie is eating expressed breastmilk fortified with neosure formula.  While her "on demand" feeding schedule had her eating about 70ml every 4 hours, we had to change her schedule because of severe reflux.  At one month, Macie is eating about 50-55ml every 3 hours. 

We also "practice" traditional nursing one to two times daily.  Macie is still working on maintaining her latch and staying awake long enough to get a good amount of milk.

Macie's reflux was severe enough that she was in a lot of pain throughout the day and night.  At the end of the month she was put on Zantac to help address this issue.

Sleeping:

At one month, Macie is still several weeks early, so her sleep patterns mimic that of a baby in the womb.  She wakes briefly to eat, and has some brief alert periods that typically last under 30 minutes.  Other than that she sleeps and sleeps and sleeps.

At night Macie sleeps for four hour stretches and feeds twice during normal "sleeping" hours.  She sleeps in a co-sleeper next to our bed.  We double swaddle her and use an over-blanket for warmth.  Her mattress is at an incline to help with the reflux.

Favorite Songs:

If Macie is upset, she will always calm down within a few seconds of when I start singing.  The songs that work the best are Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Baa Baa Black Sheep.  She also likes the ABC song - so I think that is just her favorite tune!

Favorite Activities:

• Sleeping
• Tummy time
• Being held by mommy or daddy

Least Favorite Activities:

• Diaper changes
• Taking vitamins
• Spitting up

Here are some pictures from the end of her first month!  

Charliezona

When I went into the hospital, we were a little bit concerned about how we could keep life normal and engaging for Charlie and Ephram.  Andy took a leave from work, so they had him full time, but we knew that it would be different and confusing for them to have mom living in the hospital.  Also, Charlie's spring break was coming in what we thought would be my second full week there.  We knew that he would go stir crazy if we couldn't find something for him to do.

Enter my sister Daja.  She offered, (jokingly I think,) to let me send my boys to Arizona for awhile during a Facebook conversation we were having one day.  I started to think about it, and realized that it was a great option for Charlie to occupy his week away from school.  I had some obstacles to overcome.  He would need to fly there by himself and he would be gone over Easter.  Also, it was less than a week until the timeframe we were considering, and I thought tickets might be too expensive.  Regardless, I asked my sister if she would seriously be willing to take him in for a week.  She was great and agreed to have him.  I went online and found tickets, and used miles to buy them so that the price wouldn't be ridiculous.  We told Charlie about his upcoming trip and he was beside himself with excitement.

Then everything changed and Macie came weeks earlier than anticipated.  I was even more grateful that this trip was organized.  Charlie could get away from the mayhem and avoid the back-and-forth to the hospital, and we would only have to manage Ephram during that time.  I was sad about an Easter apart, but I knew that Daja would include Charlie in their plans.

Charlie flew out the same day that my mom flew back to California.  He was both excited and nervous to fly all by himself.  All of us walked him back to the gate and watched his plane take off.  (Walking to the gate, which was all the way in the north satellite, was a bit of an ordeal for me as it was just five days post c-section.)  And then we waited for a call from his uncle Russ to let us know he'd arrived safely.  During the week he was there my sister sent us several pictures and shared some of Charlie's quips.  My personal favorite was when Charlie informed her that he was allergic to butter.  I have been trying to explain allergies to him for awhile, that an allergy is a condition where someone's body can't handle a certain food or substance.  Charlie seems to think that it means you don't like something.  Apparently he currently does not like butter.

I asked Charlie about some of his memories from the trip so that we can share them with him in the future.

Describe Arizona: Arizona is very neat and very hot, like the sun.  I like the sun and I didn't melt.  I would need so much sunscreen if I lived there.

Favorite thing about your cousin's house:  They have a swimming pool, Quinlan has two rooms and they have very yummy foods, like lemons and crab cakes.

Favorite thing about the plane ride:  Coming back I colored in the Spongebob color pack Aunt Daja got me.  I also got to have sodas - TWO sodas - both ways.

Best outing:  Riding on a special bike that is green.

Favorite food:  The food we can pick from the trees.  They have trees with fruits there.  Orange fruits, yellow fruits and other yellow fruits.  I like the yellow fruits that were not lemons (grapefruits).

Favorite thing you played:  Playing baby with Quinlan

Favorite part about Easter:  Coming to the Easter baskets first before everyone.  And getting the light.

Best memory:  My cousin Evin let me play with his legos.  I also like swimming with Dustin in the pool and playing with Braxton outside.

Charlie ended our interview by telling me that he is going to go back the first Thursday in June.  I have no idea what is special about that day, but he told me that it was really close.

Here are a few pictures my sister sent me from his trip.  I didn't include the Easter pics because they were in the last post!

A Different Kind of Easter

This year Easter fell exactly one week after I was discharged from the hospital.  Our little family was scattered.  Andy, Ephram and I were all at our home in Washington.  Charlie was with his cousins in Arizona.  We'd planned his trip about two weeks earlier when we believed that I would still be in the hospital on bed rest.  And Macie was still in the NICU.

Despite our family chaos, we still wanted Easter to be special for the boys.  So we made sure the Easter Bunny knew that Ephram would be in Washington for his basket, and Charlie would be in Arizona.  Because Macie had just had her chest tubes removed and ventilator decommissioned, she was too small and fragile to have outside things in her bed.  I am sure that the Easter Bunny will make it up to her next year.

When Ephram woke up in the morning, he was very excited to find his basket.  He hunted all over the house for it.

Just when he'd lost hope in finding it, he rounded the corner into the piano room.  There it was on the coffee table.

Ephram excitedly went through it.  He found a Duck & Goose book, a new Curious George, and a toy pizza kit.

There was candy too.  Ephram ate two of his eggs filled with jelly beans on the spot.

Meanwhile, in Arizona Charlie found the basket that the Easter Bunny had left for him.  It had a new stuffed kitty, a lego sticker book, a paper airplane kit, a light and... a little bit of candy.  (All Arizona pictures courtesy of my sister Daja.)

After Easter basket fun, Charlie got ready to go to church with his cousins.  He sure does look happy about it.  This picture cracks me up.

And later that day he got to hunt for eggs with his cousins.

While Charlie was having fun in "the desert", we were getting ready to leave and go visit Macie at the hospital.  It was an atypical Easter for sure, but I just couldn't pass up visiting her on her first holiday.  She was still too fragile for Ephram to meet her, so Andy and I took turns spending time with Macie while the other parent played with Ephram in the various rec rooms they had at the hospital.  Ephram had a great time that day and was a busy bee playing with everything.

I took the longest turn with Macie.  It happened to be the day that I had my second opportunity ever to hold her, and I took advantage of it!  I wished that I could have brought something for her on her first holiday, but I did promise her that her next holiday would be better.  Macie had just rounded the corner from being so sick, and it was a very good visit.

After a couple of hours, we headed back home.  People had been very kind to provide us with dinners a few times a week for the first month while Macie was in the NICU.  However, we hadn't thought ahead to plan for Easter and we had no food at home to eat.  So, we stopped at Ephram's favorite place on the way home... McDonald's.

It was a very different Easter indeed.  Surreal, but one that I'd like to remember down the road.