8 Months

This little gal is 8 months old today.

Her current abilities include:
*Open mouth smile
*Finding her hands
*Kicking her legs
*Holding her head up
*Sucking on the chupi with minimal assistance

Her interests include:
*Peek-a-boo
*Her "frog" from the NICU (a rice bag)
*Mirrors
*People
*Being swaddled

She thoroughly dislikes:
*Eating from a bottle
*Falling asleep while being held

She weighs:
*6.2 kilos (13 pounds, 11 ounces)

And we love her very, very much.

Especially because she came home last night.

Should Have Known, Right?

I should know by now that Charlotte doesn't do ANYTHING on anyone's schedule. It's all about her, baby.

Her lungs are still wet and she's back up to 1/2 L oxygen. The doctors are playing with her diuretics to find the proper combination for Miss Charlotte.

Maybe she'll come home Wednesday? We're hoping, but don't tell her.

Fingers Crossed

We're hoping that Charlotte can come home tomorrow (Monday). She's back on almost all of the meds she got rid of last trip to the hospital, but hey, we'll take a baby on drugs over a baby in the hospital.

That sounded bad.

Anyway, the plan is for Char Baby to head home tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed that she behaves!

Update

Charlotte's oxygen requirement increased to 3/4 L late Thursday, but they were able to wean her back down to 1/2 L last night (Friday).

She's been put back on her albuterol and diuretics, both of which were discontinued last time she was in the hospital. If they can successfully wean her to 1/4 L, they'll send her home to continue her recovery.

They've also decreased her feeds, as she's getting too fat, too quickly.

That's about it!

Consider Us Admitted

Charlotte's back at CHOP. She just loves this place way too much.

Her oxygen demand increased significantly and her lungs "sound like junk" according to the doctor. Caleb and I have been dancing around a cold for about a week now and I think Miss Charlotte has gotten jealous and wants to share.

The good news is that she does not have a fever and her chest x-ray looks the same as always: crappy, but consistently crappy. No sign of pneumonia. Phew.

They are running tests for RSV, pertussis, etc. We should have some results later today.

Thanks!

EDIT:

10/21/10 @ 1845: Charlotte is now running a fever, but it is being controlled easily by Tylenol. She tested positive for rhinovirus (the common cold) and negative for the eight other viruses screened.

Consider Us Whipped

How can you not love this face?

Life As We Know It

Life these days seems to be surviving from one appointment till the next. Our days are marked by which doctor/therapist/specialist we are seeing that day.

To make things even more interesting, Caleb has been hacking up a lung (possibly two, but he seems to be compensating well) for the past week. Trying to keep him from "his baby" has proved to be difficult. This morning he stood at the top of the stairs and yelled, "I come down now! I'm all better now. No more more sickies." He then proceeded to cough for two minutes straight. Nice.

Charlotte is holding her own, quickly learning to ignore all of us and do her own thing. She is extremely entertained by the TV (so much for no screen time until she is two...) and loves the mirror. These activities reassure us that her eye sight is not as bad as the doctors had said was possible.

This week we've had two therapy appointments, one pediatrician appointment and a random nurse stopped by to see how we were doing. Considering we have nursing for 16 hours a day, I think the nurse visit was a bit excessive :) Despite the 16 hours/day of someone else "watching" her, I still feel like I'm always behind. For example, here's a list of her appointments for the next six weeks:

Surgery follow up from her G-tube/Nissen
ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) follow up for a repeat scope w/ the airway clinic
Eye follow up from ROP
Feeding Clinic Evaluation
Repeat Swallow Study
Developmental Clinic @ CCH
Weekly sessions with Physical Therapists and Speech Therapists
Biweekly check ups with her pediatrician

So yeah, we're trying to find a rhythm. Charlotte will celebrate her eight month birthday next week. It's hard to believe how much has happened in such a "short" time. We love having her home, and can't believe that it was only a year ago that we were telling family that we were expecting.

Crazy, huh?