9.11.08

Alli weighs 9 pounds 6 ounces!! Wow, I'm impressed. she is over the 95th percentile on the preemie charts and is a solid 10% on the 'normal' charts. Her growth curve is headed straight up! She checked out great at her appointment. Her umbilical hernia (in other words - she has an 'outie') is getting a little better. Ethan, the little stinker, now has one too. more on hernias later...

It turns out that Alli is a little bit anemic, which is really common for preemies. The vitamins the nicu gave us do not have iron in them. Dr. Shire, our pediatrician, thought they had iron. So, we're switching to the iron version and will hopefully avoid having to give her straight iron supplements. She was not a fan of getting a heel stick to check her H& H (hemoglobin & hematocrit). I kept telling her that her brother does this every day, sometimes several times a day! She didn't seem to care.

Alli was also not a fan of getting her first immunizations. Her lungs and vocal cords are working just fine, thank you very much. She's been fussy all day and she went almost 6 hours between feedings. (A nice side benefit of a baby in the nicu is that you always have easy access to a nurse! They're probably not supposed to dispense advice, but if some accidentally comes up...) I hope she sleeps well tonight and feels better tomorrow. :(

Well, Ethan should get a turn here too. Though it's nice to write about Allison for a change! Actually, Chris talked at length with Dr. Nourdine today, so I'll see if I can get him to write the details. The short story is that he hopes Ethan will be completely recovered from his pneumonia in two weeks. Then they can work on weaning him slowly from the vent. Chris pushed for a timeline for discharge, and he said that it could be as long as Thanksgiving. It could be much shorter than that, but we shouldn't be surprised if it takes that long. I never thought it would take that long, but I guess it's good to have a ballpark guess from the doctors.