Chloe's 8 week doctor visit

6 pounds, 13 ounces

Everything is looking good!

Genetics

Check out these pictures ... 

Can you tell who's who?  

Could you tell without Chloe's birthmark?

7 week weigh in

Chloe is up to 6 pounds!

We are settling into a routine which is mostly made up of nursing, bottle feeding, and pumping with a whopping helping of sleep deprivation.  The sleep situation isn't working out so well because even when Chloe is asleep, her noises keep us up.  We've tried a rock and sleep as another option which worked okay for a couple of nights, but then we had some really rough nights too.  I'm not completely comfortable with the safety of the rock and sleep, so we may be returning it since it doesn't seem to make a huge difference.  We plan to try the bassinet again with it moved farther away from the bed.  If that's still proves too noisy for us to sleep, we will have to move Chloe into the crib in her own bedroom.  

Weight Check

Chloe is six weeks old, gaining weight nicely, and staying right in the middle of her growth curve.

5 pounds 10 ounces!

Chloe is outgrowing some of her preemie clothes!  We've graduated to newborn diapers and newborn sleep n plays, which are a bit baggy, but at least her feet aren't wedged into them.

We've changed a couple of things after talking with Dr. B.  over the past week, Chloe's tolerance for the Neosure has decreased.  She consistently drinks about half as much of it as the breastmilk.  Since we put her vitamins in the formula, she's never getting a full dose.  In addition, she has started spitting up after almost every formula bottle.  And when I say "spitting up",  I don't mean a little dribble down her chin.  One time that stuff spewed from her mouth in an arc and landed a good two feet away (picture one of those fountains where an angel spits water out of her mouth, and you have my little Chloe!)

So the plan is breastmilk only and return next Monday for another weight check.

Chloe's First Pediatrician Visit (5 weeks, 1 day; corrected age 35weeks 3 days gestation)

Weight: 5 pounds 4.8 ounces!

Dr. B. said continue what we are doing because Chloe looks great!  He approved adding more nursing sessions gradually with the intent to eventually phase out the supplemental breast milk bottles. We will be continuing the neosure either another two months, or until she's 2 months old... I'm unsure which.  We will also continue the polyvisol vitamins with iron once a day indefinitely.  We go back next week for another weight check and then our 8 week well visit at the end of May.

We also will discuss the strawberry hemangioma on Chloe's forehead when we go back for our 8 week visit.  Dr. B. said there is a new treatment available using a heart medicine which has the side effect of shrinking hemangiomas, but he's unsure about the age to start in a preemie.  The alternative is just to let it run its course during which it will likely grow until she's 1 year old.  At that time, they generally shrink to some degree throughout childhood, but there is no guaranty it will go away.  At that point the only option would be surgical which would likely lead to some scarring.  So we need to decide if the risk of medicine side effects with treatment are worth it or not.

Chloe Comes Home!

Chloe came home on Friday at 34 weeks, 6 days gestational age.  We can't believe how well she's doing!  In fact, I was completely speechless on Tuesday when the doctor said she would be ready to come home on Thursday.  She ended up staying one extra night because of a slight drop in heart rate on Wednesday night but got the all clear for a Friday departure. At discharge, she weighed in at 4 pounds 13.6 ounces and measured 17.72 inches long.

So she's home.  Both exciting and terrifying!   Mostly my concern is with feeding her because her suck swallow breathe combination is not very coordinated yet.  This means a lot of breath holding, a lot of gasping, some really long pauses in breathing which occasionally need reminding to resume, and a bit of choking.... Kind of stressful. She's nursing well with a nipple shield to help her latch on, but not strong enough to nurse exclusively.  She eats every 3 hours (whether she's giving cues or not, which means we set an alarm clock at night to wake up and feed her at 11, 2am, and 5am.).  We've settled into a pattern of nursing her every other feeding during the day, followed by a bottle of breastmilk, followed by pumping.  This becomes something of a process when done every three hours, which is why I don't nurse her at night.  She's also getting a high calorie formula twice a day to help her gain weight.

Our first night was pretty rough, but the next two were better.  Part of the roughness is that Chloe is sleeping in a bassinet next to our bed.  And she's a very noisy sleeper just like Cassidy was.  The girl grunts and groans. All. Night. Long.  Combine this with me being a light sleeper with mama radar fully engaged, and I get about 2 hours of sleep in 15 minute increments.  Over the past two nights I've devised a sleeping position involving a pillow strategically folded around my head to block out all but the real crying.  Last night there was a good stretch of about an hour when Chloe was really quiet with hardly a wimper ...I got up to check on her breathing three times.

Cassidy is a fantastic big sister and very helpful.  She soothes Chloe during diaper changes, throws diapers in the diaper genie for me, fetches things from Chloe's room, and holds her.  She's doing as well on patience as can be expected from a five year old.  Actually, that's not true... She's wonderful.  Better than I expected!

Our first pediatrician appointment is tomorrow when hopefully we will get the go ahead to drop out some of the supplemental bottles and move to more exclusive nursing.