Despite the title of Daily Dan, our goal isn't to post daily, but frequently enough so that you can keep up with Dan as he grows and develops now that he's home.
So far he's settling in nicely, which is to say that we're exhausted! He may be four months old, but cognitively he's a newborn. So there are many sleepless nights over here, with constant diaper changes and nursing sessions. It's nice to be normal!
We met with Dans pediatrician yesterday. Dr Q is wonderful and reassured us that Dan is perfect as well as handsome. Dan agrees with her. She gave us lots of down to earth advice, but she's also fully capable of taking care of Dans medical needs. Right now Dan takes medicines (diuretics, mutilvitamins) four times a day, is on oxygen continuously (and a special monitor for that) and is on 4 bottles a day of specialty high calorie formula. In a week we can drop a bottle and we'll check his weight again at the office in two weeks. If he's gaining and growing, we can drop some more bottles. Our goal is to exclusively breast feed Dan, but we'll go with whatever he needs. We're pretty focused on weight gain and growth because he started out so small, but also because as he grows he will develop new lung tissue, and that new lung tissue won't be damaged. The bigger he grows the less intervention he'll need, so less medicine and less oxygen. Yay! To imagine a life without oxygen and monitors and medicine!
Getting about is a little difficult, but we're figuring out what works and what doesn't. We have one huge oxygen tank in the living room by the couch and his pack & play, and several smaller tanks that we use for overnight or for going out of the house. Maneuvering around with all of this is challenging, but getting better every day. It took me 90 minutes to get out of the house to get to the pediatricians yesterday, hopefully it'll only take 60 for his Eye Dr appointment next week!
We're getting closer to figuring out his patterns and needs and wants. Sleeping is definitely something that we're working on as Dan seems to have been told that he doesn't need to sleep at all at night. Not sure who sent that memo out...
Lastly, the dogs seem to be adjusting well to the new addition to the family. They mostly just sniff around him and then sit back looking confused. They hate the oxygen monitor though. It goes off constantly at the decibel of your average smoke detector. Not fun. But at least he's home!
Life with a 4 month old, er newborn, certainly is interesting!
- Jen
- Jen
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