5 pounds

Robbie had his first pediatrician appointment on Wednesday.

It went quite well.
He finally broke 5lb! Five pounds, one ounce to be exact.

It was great to see because he'd gained 7 ounces in 6 days since we left the hospital the 2nd time. That's on plain breastmilk, which we didn't really expect to see.

He got the last vaccination he was due for- this one was oral, so the worst part of the visit for him was being stripped. The boy does not like to be naked.

It went so well that the doctor doesn't want to see us back for a month. The only things on his list of follow up items were his weight, his feedings and his reflux. She said that most preemies come out of the NICU with a whole laundry list of "issues." She's impressed with how well he's done.

She does want him to stay on the home heart monitor for a while. She didn't get specific. He's had 3 episodes in the 2 weeks we've been home. All three were brief. Of course, they scared the crap out of me anyway, but they were to be expected. The doctor wants to keep the monitor until he hasn't had any "for a while." I'm happy to have it as an added protection. I don't get much sleep, but when I do, I don't have to leap out of bed to make sure he's still breathing. There's a machine for that.

Our home health nurse is going to try to get a few more visits so we can keep a close eye on his weight gain. That's fine by me. It's nice to have extra eyes to make sure he looks the way he should.

For now, we just try to get him to grow as much as possible.

He got plotted on the growth chart yesterday. Or, rather, plotted on the page with a growth chart- he's not actually on it. They hope he'll catch up by the time he's 2. She did warn us that 25% of preemies don't catch up by 2 and with Robbie starting and staying as small as he has, he's at great risk for being one of them. But we'll keep feeding him all he wants and pray for the best.

If only I could donate him some fat.

--Trish