Alanna had another appointment on 1/17 with Children's high risk neonatologist Dr. Wiles. Alanna overall is doing really well. Her weight has picked up a lot as a result of fortifying her milk. She is on a regular growth curve in the 15 th percentile weighing at 14 lbs 10 ounces. Her length was a slight area of concern because she has not grown lengthwise in proportion to her weight. Her length is 24:5 inches. They told me that length tends to always take longer to catch up in premature babies and they feel she needs protein added into her diet. I now have to fortify her milk with neosure for added protein. They also suggested instead of puree fruits/ veggies to try some meat or beans. They said Alanna may need to do the baby food thing a little backwards due to her protein needs. Apparently regular formula and breast milk do not have a lot of protein and since she's getting formula mixed with breastmilk for added calories this is helping to pick up her weight but not really doing much to work on length catching up. So I'm hopeful this new fortifier will help Alanna continue to catch up.
Developmentally:
Alanna is doing great cognitively/ communication wise. I started sign with her. She is very interested and after a few weeks of drilling the sign "more" she is starting to do it. She loves when I read to her so I enrolled her in a Rock-a-Bye readers program through the library. It's a early literacy program for infants. She loved it! She smiled, laughed and stared at the librarian the whole time. She was mesmorized by all the activities and movements that went a long with the books. She is also babbling and cooing a ton and laughing. She loves being around others all the time.
Gross Motor:
This area is another story. She got the label developmentally delayed due to this area. I was told this is most likely temporary due to her hydrops condition. Alanna gets Physical Therapy at home and the therapist noticed she has a lot of tightness and is stiff. She needs to loosen up those muscles so she can have more success with rolling, tummy time and sitting up. Apparently the physical therapist feels that since Alanna was so big in my tummy full of fluid, she didn't get much opportunity to move around like normal babies. She also said being born premature and sick also prevented her from performing some of the important early movements that help set the stage for rolling, etc. So Alanna needs some work in this area. She does not enjoy it but goes with the flow. In a perfect world Alanna would be perfectly content laying flat on her back kicking her legs around while smiling.
Foods
Alanna is a champ at eating. Her reflux is completely gone and she has been off Zantec for awhile now. She eats pureed sweet potatos, peas, apple's and bananas. Sweet potatoes are her favorite. ( just like her mommy). <
Alanna is also completely out of her elevated bassinet and into her crib. She still gets up once or twice during the night but loves her crib. The transition went way better than I imagined. She has been sleeping in her crib since Christmas day :)
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I'm so proud of my little angel. She is the most happy and joyful baby I know. She only cries when she's tired or hungry. She smiles all day long. I feel so blessed having her with me after her long and hard battle to be here. We both fought so hard to have each other. Everyday is such a gift and I'm so appreciative.
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