That is the 1st percentile for both height and weight. My little peanut. At least she is on the charts? :) By contrast, Connor was 13 lbs., 4 oz. at two months (85th percentile)!
Her body takes up so many of her calories when it over-produces her skin, but poor thing, it's not all her skin's fault. With getting the stomach bug and dealing with our formula mishaps, she hasn't had a fighting chance to gain weight and grow. And now I think she is dealing with a bit of reflux, based on the amount of spitting up she's doing and how irritable she is during feedings.
It is starting to get hard for me to see other babies who are her age who are growing and hitting developmental milestones, like smiling and pushing up with their arms and lifting their heads. Even though Brenna spent the first 5 weeks of life lying on her back in the NICU (and therefore not doing "tummy time" and other activities), we've become determined not to let her fall too far behind, so this week I've tried really hard to make time to do her occupational therapy exercises and increase her range of movement and further help her muscles develop.
Brenna also got her two-month vaccination shots on Wednesday...which led to a low-grade fever...which then, we think, led to a fever of 102 this morning. We are still taking her temp in Celsius since that's what we got familiar with in the hospital. When the thermometer read 39 degrees this morning (37 C is 98.6F), we freaked and I grabbed another thermometer to double-check.
We brought it down with Tylenol, and then went to see the doctor, who said she otherwise seemed healthy and just to keep monitoring it. Fortunately it has stayed down through this afternoon, so here's hoping! He also prescribed Zantac for her suspected reflux and so far, she seems to be spitting up less even after just one dose of it.
Whew, this little girl is sure keeping us on our toes. I'm praying for a non-eventful weekend before our millions of doctors appointments next week!
By the way, THANK YOU all for such an incredible showing of support by reading my post about Rare Disease Day and watching our video!! I am blown away by the amount of people who have shared it on their Facebook and Twitter pages and by the number of views we now have!! I also want to give a shout-out to my friend Crista, who helped me put together all of my photos and footage...it helps to have friends that know what they're doing when it comes to video editing! :)
Just ask God to help you not compare your little Butterfly's progress with other babies - it may drag you down. Brenna has progressed so quickly - it is almost unbelievable to me! My oldest had three years of gross & fine motor skill work, along with intensive speech therapy, and now he works with the developmentally disabled population. Isn't that cool - that's how GOD works. I remember the days of vaccinations - always the fevers. Hoping everybody gets some rest this weekend! Remember, one day at a time. God bless you - prayers headed your way.
ReplyDeleteHello. My baby boy was born 5 weeks early and also has Ichthyosis. He gets sick on formula and also has reflux. He's been on Zantac for two months now and doing much better. I think the thing that helped the most was letting him sleep on an incline. We bought something called the Nap Nanny and it has made such a huge difference. It's basically a comfy wedge that you strap them in and they can sleep in at an angle (we bought ours at babies r us). Hope Brenna is feeling better and remember to take one day at a time! You're doing a wonderful job:)
ReplyDeleteIt's hard not to compare your baby others, but try not to. :) Brenna is a huge fighter. She'll catch up in her own time. Glad the Zantac is working! To say you have your hands full is an understatement!
ReplyDeleteI've been reading your blog since the beginning and your family is constantly in my thoughts and prayers. My daughter had severe reflux and colic. We bought a nap nanny and it does help but costs over $100. It was just as easy and she slept just as well sleeping in her car seat. Also, try to keep her inclined for a half hour after she eats so the food will stay down (maybe in her bouncer). Hopefully the reflux resolves itself soon! God Bless.
ReplyDeleteBrenn has accomplished SO MUCH already in her short little lifetime - she is one strong little lady, as are you! :)
ReplyDeleteCarter has been behind on alot of his milestones as well. it's hard not to compare, especially when three of my friends had babies within two months of me, and most of them are WAY ahead of Carter (still). However, we had to learn to set our own goals and just work toward them slowly. Everytime he'd get a UTI and we'd end up in the hospital he would be set back again. We're still battling the weight gain/eating issues. Just keep praying, and love on that baby :) happy babies thrive!
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