Information as of: 8/31/03

• Actual Age: 2 months and 29 days old (12 weeks 2 days)
• Gestational Age: 35 weeks and 5 days (this is how far along I am if I was still in my mommy's belly)
• Corrected Age: -1 months and 2 days (this is how old I am if I had been born on mommy's due date, Oct. 1 2003)
• Weight: 2234 grams or about 5 pounds *Some of this might be water weight
• Length: 34.5 cm
• Head Circumference: 27.5 cm
• Current Issues my doctors are working on:
  • Lungs:
    Even though they are better than they used to be, I am still on the Conventional Vent on low-moderate settings. I will probably be on the vent for awhile longer. I currently have moderate-mild chronic lung disease. This means I will might have asthma when I get older and get colds easier. See, my lungs will keep growing till I am age 3! So, while I have immature lungs right now, I will have time to recover. My lungs will never look like other people's, but they will be normal for me! Mommy knows lots of kids with asthma who didn't have all the problems I do! So, if that is the only lasting effect, that isn't too bad!
  • Belly:
    My belly got a tear in it when my bowels stopped working because I had a bad infection! But, the doctors made me better from the infection and my tear healed itself. BUT, when I healed, my bowels stopped working for awhile. For a long time my doctors thought I would need surgery. But on Aug 22nd and 25th I had upper and lower GI studies done. Luckly all of the dye made it though! This means that I can eat!! On Aug 28th I got milk for the first time (just a little bit- 2ml per hour- and then they are going to gradually increase my food and see if I tolerate it! My doctors still do not know if I will need surgery, but so far we have put it on hold. If I do have surgery we hope it will not be as bad as they thought it would be. I will still be sick for awhile after the surgery, but I am a fighter and will fight hard afterwords.
  • Brain:
    After my 7 week head ultrasound, we found out that my body is growing faster than my brain (between my 5 week ultrasound and 7 week ultrasound I got my first growth spurt)! This might be a beign phenomeon because I was so very small where my brain will eventually catch up (they say about 24 months of age). It could also be indicative of some brain injury (though if it is, we can't tell for sure or have any idea how much). Or, it could be a progressive issue where the brain will get worse. All we really know is that I am still at risk (some babies like me have completely normal ultrasounds all the way through but have severe problems anyways as they grow up and some kids who have one or more concerning ultrasounds turn out normal) and we won't know whether I will have problems until I start missing milestones (things I should do at certain times like sitting up and crawling). The 9 week ultrasound results were good news. My brain is maturing normally in the past few weeks (for example, the ridges in the brain and such are developing). They shouldn't be able to see how much my brain has matured, but I do still have some extra fluid between my brain and my skull that allows them to see it. But, they said that the ultrasound looks better than the last. So, now they think there is just an anomoly that my brain is growing at a different rate than my skull. They are hopefull it will even out evenually and that it is not much to worry about. Though we still won't really know till I do or don't hit milestones!
  • Eyes:
    My eyes are open now! They were closed (fused shut) when I was born. I might have something called ROP. Lots of preemies have it. It means that I could be blind- but that most likely I will just have to have laser surgery and wear glasses. Well, I still have Stage 1 Zone 2 ROP after my exam week 12. I have progressed a little and the ROP is now effecting all the way around my eye. But, I am still stage one. Therefore, chances are that it will go away on its own and I might have to wear glasses later. See, I want to be like my daddy! If it gets worse, I can have laser eye surgery to help it, but there is only about a 10% chance that will happen!
  • Lines
    Lines are the IVs and such that they get my blood from or feed me my Triple Mix food. I have been a stinker with my lines. I have pulled several out, one got infected (a pic line), and one IV burst my vein and burned my skin on my hand for the size of a quarter! Ouch! So, my infection from my pic line is gone now, but plastics is following my burn to make sure it doesn't scar too bad. They said it did not get the muscle, luckily, but it did eat all the way through the skin. Well, in order to continue my super sized food, I needed a better line than my ivs and such. So, at the beginning of Week 11 they took me down to the Operating Room and gave me what is called a Central Line. This will deliver my food and such right next to my heart. They taped this down good. They told me I was not allowed to pull this one out! That would be bad! My burn is starting to heal but it will take 3 weeks to fully heal.