Six months ago right now...

I was being prepped for an emergency c-section. And the rollercoaster hasn't stopped since! Sarah was born six months ago tonight, weighing in at a measly 2lbs, 3oz. How far she's come...she had her six month well visit with her pediatrician today and she's a whopping 12lbs, 2oz. Dr. G is very please with her progress overall - her weight gain is steady and her gross motor skills are coming right along. She's not yet rolling over but like everything, it'll come in time. Poor Sarah got three routine vaccinations today along with the first half of her seasonal flu shot (it's only given after six months and is split into two shots given one month apart). She was at least spared the H1N1 (which we absolutely would have given) since she had the actual virus while still in the NICU.

We also discussed the apnea monitor that Sarah is still wearing at night. The first month that she had it after discharge showed only a handful of apnea (alarms if the belt detects no chest movement for 20 seconds) and brady (alarms if her heartbeat drops below 80bpm) episodes, but the information downloaded from the monitor indicated that they were all false alarms. Dr. G wanted us to keep the monitor for one more month and at the time, we felt better having it. In the last week or so, that monitor has become the bane of my existence. We've been getting multiple (ie, CONSTANT) brady alarms at night. They were clearly false alarms based on Sarah's appearance and response and the only way to make them stop was to just turn the monitor off. After a bit of online troubleshooting yesterday, I moved the belt lower on her chest last night and we FINALLY had a night of no alarms. Dr. G wants us to keep the monitor on for one more week with the belt lowered - if we're still alarm free, we can discontinue it!! Woohoo!! I'd love nothing more than to beat the total hell out of that machine, but it's a rental.

We were also given the go ahead to start cereal by spoon (as suggested by Sarah's occupational therapist). Sarah has been getting cereal in her bottle since her reflux diagnosis more than three months ago so it's really just a change in delivery.

We're starting slow for now :-) We'll keep at the cereal for 2-3 weeks and then, as she becomes more comfortable with the spoon, we'll start to add vegetables. My concern was (and will always be) food allergies...most doctors suggest withholding solids until six months because of the development of the digestive system (simply put). I assumed that we would use her corrected age (currently 3mos) here, but according to Dr. G, the key is that her digestive system has been functioning for six months, making it ready to take on more. Now, that's not to say that her mouth is ready...but it'll work itself out. I have an appointment with my allergist next week so I'll be relying on her guidance on which foods to introduce when.

I mentioned Sarah's occupational therapist above - we had her Early Intervention evaluation earlier this week. In a nutshell, she's on par for her adjusted age, but she'll continue to receive services for now. We'll be working with the occupational therapist several times a month to make sure her gross motor skills (and eventually her fine motor skills) continue to progress as she grows.

On a humorous note, Sarah's pedi is at the hospital where she was born so we headed down to the gift shop to buy more parking passes. On the way, we passed by the post-partum area of the women's center and ran into a nurse that I remembered from my second (and THIRD) admissions following Sarah's birth. She remembered me too...and said, "Oh!! You're the persistant staph infection from the end of the hall!!" Um, yeah. Thanks! In labor and delivery I'll always be the "dog lady who spent a month in room 319". In post-partum, I'll always be the "staph infection from the end of the hall"! Oh well, I guess there worse things to be remembered for...!