Almost 9lbs!!

A late update because this past week has been more of the same. Charlotte met her pediatrician, Dr. Salem, on Monday. She was very nice. Right now, she’s leaving most of Charlotte’s medical care to the heart teams, although she mentioned that she would change the Zantac for a more palatable drug when we begin giving medications orally. Charlotte will go back to Dr. Salem on Monday for her first and second month vaccinations.

On Tuesday, Charlotte was seen by the CV Surgery nurse and the Speech Pathologist. She’s doing well on both fronts, but coming along slowly on oral feeding (at least from our perspective). No changes in meds or oxygen. Her lungs were clear so we got the go-ahead to feed 100% breast milk, but we have to fortify it to add calories (adding Enfamil and vegetable oil, for those of you who are curious). We still have to add rice cereal to thicken the formula so that she can control it. But at least we’re finally beginning to empty our freezer.

It’s been a bit rough this week—we’re both very tired and sometimes have no idea why she’s crying. This parenting stuff is rather exhausting and not always fun. We know that when she starts smiling and grabbing her bottle we’ll feel better about it, but in the meantime….To all you parents who told us the first 3 months were “exhausting but exhilarating and fun” we say “phooey.” Try hard and frustrating, but worth it eventually. Do parents forget these months because of sleep deprivation-induced amnesia? Or is there a conspiracy to glaze over the truth so as not to scare people off of having kids? J

We’ve decided to forgo breastfeeding for a number of reasons: 1) Logistical—we realized that if I pump, fortify and feed, I’ll be doing nothing else all day and 2) Even if Speech gives us the go ahead to breastfeed in 2 weeks, Nutrition might still have us adding calories. Bottom line: We have no idea when the doctors might allow Charlotte to go to the breast. It’s taking her long enough to get the hang of the bottle and we’re concerned that switching to breast in a few weeks would set her back.

Philippe goes back to work on Monday and a whole new phase will begin for us. I’ll be solo taking Charlotte for her shots on Monday and for her Cardiology and Surgical consults on Wednesday. I’m ever-so-grateful that our pediatrician is in walking distance!

I’ll be adding pictures to the blog this week, so check back! (Pictures will be added retroactively, too, so you’ll be able to see the past 9 weeks). She’s awfully cute and very photogenic.