Lillian Grace Denby Update: 2/26/2011

Laughing at my dad

Lillian Grace is 201 days (6 months and just over 2 weeks) old today; her adjusted age, calculated from her due date is 2 months, 24 days. She’s been home from the hospital for 2 months.

Life at home when you are 6 and a half months old is really pretty sweet: you get to eat just about whenever you want to, and the food is customized just for you; you can sleep when you want to and keep everyone else awake when you don’t; when you get bored with your swing, you can  borrow someone’s knee for a little bit of bouncing. But life isn’t all rosy: you keep getting dragged off for various shots (she had her third dose of Synagis this week) which hurt like the dickens; or you find that your teeth are working their way up through your gums and that hurts, too. Still, it’s springtime in Houston, so you can escape the confines of your apartment and go out walking with your mom or dad — when you’ve spent most of your first six months inside, that’s a pretty exciting thing to do — so all in all, if you are Lillian Grace Denby, you are a pretty happy baby.

Talking to mom

Lillian’s great accomplishment of the past week is that she’s weaned herself off of oxygen, and is breathing only room air. She’s still hooked to the pulse oximeter at night, and for an hour or two during the day, but her oxygen saturation on room air is excellent. This means that doing things (like going for a walk) is much easier: no portable tanks to hook up and lug around. She’ll go back to her pulmonologist for a check-up in April, but she appears to have made excellent progress in her breathing. She continues to eat well and to gain weight: she weighs 12 lbs, 9 oz.

 

Bouncing

Lillian is very active when she’s awake: she can flip herself from her back to her stomach (though she can’t flip back) and skooches herself around the floor or the crib. She has a bouncer that she loves to play in (we put up a video of her bouncing here); she loves to move and to grab anything in reach. When her teeth hurt, she sucks on her wrist or her fingers or an icy teething ring. She takes a few naps during the day, but at night now sleeps for one or two four to six-hour stretches.

Thanks for your prayers and support!

Lillian Bounces: A Video

Lucky Charm

 

What!? St Pat's day isn't for another month?

 

 

Lillian Grace Denby Update: 2/14/2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

Lillian Grace is 189 days old today; her adjusted age is 10 weeks. She’s been home from the hospital for almost 8 weeks!

Lillian’s Official Stats as of Friday, 2/11:

• Height: 59.7 cm (2.6 cm gain) 23.5 in
• Weight: 5330 gm (325 gm gain) 11 lb 12 oz
• Head Circumference: 39.4 cm (3.8 cm gain) 15.5 in

Lillian Grace visited Dr Rowland, her pediatrician, for her six month check-up on Friday, 2/11, accompanied by her mom and dad. Dr Rowland thinks she is doing very well. She holds her head up on her own and sits for extended periods (supported by a friendly hand), laughs and smiles, and coos, gurgles and grunts. She breast-feeds almost exclusively and is a serious, dedicated and noisy eater. Developmentally, she is right where she should be (perhaps a bit ahead in some areas) given her adjusted age (which is calculated from her due date of December 2nd). Lillian is currently waiting on an appointment with developmental pediatricians who specialize in follow-up assessments of neo-natal infants.

Of course, when you are a baby and go to the doctor for your regular visit, you are likely to get a bunch of shots: Lillian got several, including her first flu shot. She did not enjoy the experience; and she did not much enjoy the rest of Friday or Saturday. As often happens after a flu shot, she ran a slight fever, seemed a bit congested and was pretty lethargic. Just to be safe, Ashley and Josh took her back to the doctor on Saturday morning: her lungs sounded normal and, after a careful examination, the doctor thought that she was just reacting to the flu shot. By Sunday morning, Lillian felt much better, and was back to her smiling, feisty self.

My Eyes

For the past week or two, Lillian has been sucking on her own hands and arms, on her dad’s hands and arms when she can get to them, and has been drooling up a storm. Dr Rowland confirmed what we suspected: Lillian has begun teething and in the next month or so we can expect a tooth or two to erupt. Ashley is both excited and, as Lillian’s food source, just a bit apprehensive: the girl has a powerful jaw. Dr Rowland also thinks it likely that Lillian’s eye color will continue to be about what it is now: a dark blue with hints of gray and gold.

Lillian’s breathing continues to improve, we think; her pulse oximeter was out of commission for part of last week, so Ashley and Josh limited her to three-hour stretches on room air; after getting it going again (Apria walked Ashley through the procedures over the phone), they’ve increased her time on room air gradually: yesterday she breathed room air for 12 hours with no desaturations. She will see her pulmonologist, Dr West, on April 5th to determine whether she is ready to be off oxygen full-time.

Helping mom get the mail

One of the advantages of being off oxygen is that you don’t have to be tethered via cannula and tubes to an oxygen tank: that means that when the weather turns glorious, as it did Saturday, your mom can just put you in her K’Tan sling and take you out to check the mail or to sit on the balcony or to take a walk… kind of like Lillian’s just a baby!

Some of Lillian’s nurses and friends from Memorial Hermann Southwest NICU recently commented on the blog and sent greetings her way — she misses them (as does her family) and we promise to drop by soon to visit. No small part of the miracle that is Lillian is due to the superb care she received in her four and a half months’ residence there; it takes special people to handle the needs of premature babies and their families, and the people of Memorial Hermann Southwest NICU — doctors, nurses, techs, clerks, cleaning staff — are some of the best.

Thanks for your prayers and support!

Lillian Grace Denby: 6 Months Old, 2/9/2011

Today (2/9/2011)

Six Months Ago (8/19/2010)

 

I'm 6 months old today!

 

Lillian Grace Denby Update: 2/6/2011

Full & happy

Lillian Grace is 181 days old today, and will be 26 weeks old tomorrow. Her adjusted age (calculated from her due date) is 2 months, 4 days. On Wednesday, February 9th, she’ll be six months old!

Cold weather delights Lillian Grace: bundled up and out in her stroller, she laughs when the cold wind blows on her nose; she thoroughly approves of shutting down the city of Houston for ice storms: that means she has both her mom and her dad home all day. Sometimes she is solemn and serious, regarding her surroundings and companions with a careful studiousness; but then, without warning, perhaps at the shake of a rattle or some silly utterance by an otherwise sober adult, she’ll laugh out loud or grace you with a glorious smile.

Me & Mom in the x-ray room

Lillian endured her VCUG test with grace and charm. The techs from the radiology team at Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital were efficient and cheerful, even when a diaper-less Lillian did what diaper-less babies often do. The test showed no problems with Lillian’s bladder and urinary tract; it’s one in a series of tests she’ll have over the next few months as her kidney specialists determine how best (and when) to deal with her very small left kidney. After the VCUG test, we had her blood pressure checked to assess whether her blood pressure medicine is working; Lillian was pretty feisty when we went in, and the first reading was high, so we hung around until she was ready to eat; while she was gulping down lunch and distracted, the nurse got several good readings and Lillian’s blood pressure was just where we wanted it to be.

Me & My Dad

Lillian’s East Texas grandparents, Peggy and Keith, and her aunts Cari and Sylvia came down last weekend for a good visit and Lillian loved seeing them. All of the East Texans marveled at how big she’s gotten in just 6 months: this girl, who could have fit comfortably in one hand when she was born, is now a solid chunk of kid who requires two hands and a capacious lap. (Lillian’s kidney specialist and her nurse several times referred to Lillian as “petite”; at 11 and a half pounds, we say instead “big girl”).

 

Plumb tuckered out

Lillian’s breathing continues to improve: she’s still spending most of the day on oxygen at 1/8th liter flow, but for two to four hours a day she is breathing room air only, monitored by a pulse oximeter. Ashley now uses a clear thin adhesive film to hold Lillian’s nasal cannula in place; it’s easier and gentler to remove, so when she’s on room air, Ashley removes the cannula completely, and for a few hours a day we see Lillian without tubes, wires or tape — still a new and exciting experience for us. She’s got another visit with her pediatrician this week, and will see a neurologist in April, and she is waiting on her first appointment with developmental pediatricians who specialize in follow-up care for premature infants.

Nearly six months on, Lillian is a delight, a joy, a wonder… and cranky and fussy and exhausting: everything a baby should be.

Thanks for your continuing prayers and support!

Lillian Smiles: A Video 2/4/2011