6 Months Later

It's hard to believe that 6 months ago Justin weighed 14.5 ozs, 10.25 inches and now weighs 8 lbs 1 oz, 18.75 inches.

1 week old

6 months

Most new moms will probably say that motherhood is an absolute joy from the day their child is born. I wish the same could be said for me. Don't get me wrong, I love my little guy with all my heart, but motherhood has been much harder than I expected. Perhaps its because I have 10 times the worries/issues of the mother of a healthy full term baby. But over the past month I've gotten to the point where I can finally relax and start enjoying being a mom. And I must say it's been GREAT!

Thanksgiving

Besides a visit from Aunt Ambyr Justin's 1st Thanksgiving was pretty uneventful. While Carl was at the game Justin was sleeping and woke up in just enough time to see the Lions lose, yet again. Here are some pictures of the one I'm most thankful for this year, enjoy.

Oh So Sweet

Medical Update

Justin's hearing test shows that he has mild to moderate hearing loss in his left ear. The doctor explained that right now he's only able to hear a whisper. At this point there's no way to know whether this loss is permanent or not so they will monitor him closely and he has a follow up appointment next month. The doctor was very optimistic, especially given the fact that his right ear is perfectly healthy, and stated that even if the loss is permanent it should not cause any developmental problems in the future.

Justin's last eye exam shows that the disease has completely regressed in his left eye but there are still 3 areas of the disease in his right eye. Those areas haven't gotten any worse but the regression seems to have stalled. The doctor says this happens occasionally but doesn't see a need for additional surgery. Fortunately the core eye functions have not been damaged and his vision does not appear to be affected. The weekly visits are now a thing of the past and he'll be seen again in two weeks.

Although Justin's hernia seems to be getting bigger day by day it has not become complicated (requiring immediate surgery). Since Justin will be on oxygen through the winter months the plan is to have the surgery to correct his hernia, hypospadias and circumcise him in April once he's completely healthy. But for now the urologist said everything appears to be growing just fine so he won't be seen again until March.

2 months adjusted

Premature birth on the rise, see how you can help‏

I received this article from The March of Dimes that I thought I'd share.

The March of Dimes speaks up for babies every day -- and on Prematurity Awareness Day, we make sure even the smallest babies are heard.

The March of Dimes has released a Premature Birth Report Card for the nation and every state. We scored a D overall because the number of babies born too soon in our country is 60 percent higher than the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Healthy People 2010 objective of 7.6 percent. State-by-state grades are also available in the Report Card. Visit marchofdimes.com and find out how your state measures up.

For the past few weeks, we've been asking everyone to sign our online Petition for Preemies and help us send a message to our newly elected local and national officials. Thousands of caring people have already responded. If you were one of them, thank you for your support! If you missed it, go to marchofdimes.com/petition. Don't forget, you can sign up for advocacy alerts to make sure you won't miss any opportunities in your area and nationally.

You can help by sending this message along to family and friends!

RSV Season Here We Come

After almost 2 months of fighting with the insurance company Justin finally received his first of five Synagis injections. He will receive an injection monthly during the RSV season (October through April in most regions) to increase his immunity to RSV. I know I briefly discussed RSV in a previous post but for those of you who plan to visit us over the next few months, and even if you are not, please take a few minutes to read this.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a very common virus. It infects half of all children during their first year of life and by age five all children will have been infected at least once. Respiratory infections caused by RSV are most common during the winter months. While most infections are mild, RSV can cause severe illness in infants who were born prematurely or who have lung problems. Up to half of these infants who become infected need to be hospitalized for breathing difficulty. Some infants get sicker than others because premature infants and infants with serious lung conditions have underdeveloped respiratory and immune systems that are less able to fight infections. This website offers a great visual comparison of a preemie’s lungs compared to the lungs of a full-term baby: http://www.preemiecare.org/LungsTrees03-4.pdf

Preventing the spread of RSV is very difficult. Thus, we must be vigilant about keeping Justin safe during RSV season. The virus is spread through physical contact, in the air via a cough or sneeze, or by touching an infected object. The virus can live as long as six hours on hands and up to twelve hours on objects, and it spreads very easily, especially from child to child. Studies have also shown that infants pose an even higher risk of spreading RSV to others.

You may ask, “Can’t he fight it off and build up his immune system? Kids need to get sick, right?” The simple answer is NO. Since Justin was pre-term he did not acquire the necessary immunities to fight off infection. If he were to contract RSV he could be hospitalized and develop serious complications.

We’ll be asking our visitors to follow a few guidelines to help prevent Justin from contracting RSV or any other illness. We ask that all visitors do the following:

1. When you arrive, please wash your hands and use hand-sanitizer as needed before touching him.
2. Please, if it is possible, get a flu shot.
3. Please refrain from coming over if you are currently sick and have not been symptom-free for at least 5 days, if you live with someone who is sick, or have been in close contact with someone who is sick.
4. If you smoke, we ask that you change your clothing and refrain from smoking prior to visiting, as a preemie’s lungs are very sensitive to smoke. Most RSV sites recommend against passive smoke exposure.
5. If you are parents to a baby or toddler, please refrain from bringing them to our house during RSV season.

It was a hard decision, one that we went back and forth on many times and discussed with Justin's pediatrician, home care nurse and NICU doctors, but unfortunately we will not be attending many events during RSV season. Our goal is to make it through this and the next RSV seasons without Justin contracting RSV or any other serious illness. His lungs are still very fragile until he is 2-years-old. Please understand that this post is not meant to offend anyone, just simply to provide an explanation. We hope you understand, and we appreciate your help keeping Justin safe.

Love
Carl, Georgina & Justin

I Just Don't Get It

Justin had his last bottle at 9 o'clock last night so you would think he'd be starving when he woke up this morning. But he just barely took the 1 oz bottle with his meds and only took 1/2 oz of the remaining 2 oz bottle. And I had to revert back to the tricks used when he first started nippling in the NICU (rubbing his cheeks, holding his chin) just to get him to take that last 1/2 oz.

I just don't get it, for his weight he should be taking in somewhere between 14 and 18 ozs /day. On average he's only been taking in 11 ozs for the past week and it's been a struggle to get him to eat. He gets really fussy and starts crying at the top of his lungs so I thought his reflux was getting worse. We took him to the doctor on Halloween and they took x-rays to check his digestive tract, checked for thrush, and drew blood to check for infection. But nothing was found so the only thing they could think of was that because he's getting my frozen breast milk he could be reacting to something that I ate and recommended using infant gas drops. That has helped in terms of the fussiness but he still doesn't eat much. He is growing, slowly, so I guess that's all that matters, but it just doesn't seem right.

Growing, Growing, Growing

Justin now weighs 7 lbs and is starting to fit into some of his newborn clothes. They're a little long so all I can do is apologize for my being vertically challenged and hope that he has a growth spurt, soon, lol. There are a few preemie outfits that he's still able to wear but it's nice to move into another size. Who knows how long it'll be before he's in 0-3 months.