Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Bloody Tuesday

Jordan is up to 1099 grams – 2 pounds 7 ounces! At this rate, he’ll be up to a hundred pounds by the end of the decade! Happy 3rd birthday Jordan. Even his feet are getting bigger. You know what they say about boys with big feet – they cost their parents a small fortune in shoes. They gave Jordan some blood yesterday. He was running low on red blood cells and because of his age he can’t quite make enough of his own yet. The extra blood should help him with the desatting. They still haven’t solved the mucous problem yet. His primary doctor has been out for a week and a half, and the other doctors don’t make big changes in treatments unless necessary. Low blood counts are important, but a stuffy nose really isn’t.
He is also getting pretty strong. If anyone has seen him or any other 23 weekers, the movements are jerky and flailing. You touch him on his right leg, and he’s liable to move anything. Now, he moves more purposefully. He will either move his right leg or try and move his right arm to try and move you away. The cutest thing is when the nurses put him curled up on his belly in the fetal position. Sometimes he will straighten his legs to be more comfortable. Rarely he will push up on his arms in an attempt to turn over. He’s not there yet, but I swear it looks like stuff that most kids don’t do until after they have been born. The development schedule for Jordan will be weird for many years. Normally you have crawling at 6 months, walking at 12, simple sentences at 18. With micro preemies, there are no rules. Some things they do early because they are exposed to stimuli early. Other things they do late. Even adjusting for his due date, he won’t do things on time. He may smile by the time he comes home. He may smile by his birthday. No one knows. He should catch up by preschool, but we are going to have a dickens of a time measuring progress by then.

2 comments:

Traci said...

He's growing so fast! I'm almost convinced they're slipping a little bacon fat into his feeding tube :) Since the last round of pix, I've heard that he is noticeably gaining some baby fat and losing the translucent quality of his skin, and I've even heard that his hair is starting to curl...so forgive me for being a pain, but what about some newer pics?

Anonymous said...

According to the NIH expert, my sis, she said that you want to flush your eyes with water and follow with a warm, wet compress. She emphasizes that all of this should be done with CLEAN HANDS! Which means you cannot pick you nose before doing this, Big Ali. :)