yes, today was odin's 4 month birthday!
we celebrated by visiting his pediatric surgeon to have him check one of his hernia scars which, about a week ago, began to get red and puffy and we feared that it might be getting infected. earlier this week we stopped by the pediatrician's offices and they thought that the surgeons should take a look at it; although they didn't think it was infected, they didn't think it looked quite right.
before the surgeon looked at the scar, odin was weighed and much to our surprise we discovered that he's already blown past the 8 pound mark and tipped the scales at about 8 pounds 6 ounces, which means he's gained 11 ounces in just 3 days?! today he was weighed with all his clothes on which probably accounts for some of the weight increase, but it's likely that he's officially at least an 8 pounder.
as you can see, he's not very happy with being weighed.
happily, the surgeon determined that the redness and puffiness was not a serious concern. the stiches that are holding his incisions together are slowly dissolving and his body is mounting a "normal" immune response against the foreign material, creating a "stitch absyss" ( a process also known as "spitting a stitch" ) which will slowly get absorbed back into his body. they absyss shouldn't cause him any pain and will likely disappear in a few weeks.
we've noticed over the past week that odin is doing a much better job of holding his head up by himself and he's actually starting to make little baby 'oooohs". before they hit their original due date micropreemies are often much quieter than one might expect and they don't often make the sorts of cutesy noises that one normally associates with babies ( mostly they just emit grunts and groans ). technically, although he's not really even a month old ( in age adjusted terms ), it's interesting to look at how his development compares to "normal" (ack!) baby milestones. from a motor skills perspective, he seems to be ahead of the game and acts like any other 3-4 month old baby - he can hold his head up, reaches for objects, can roll over and can bring his hands together; but he still has some work to do on the verbal skills as he only very occasionally 'oooohs' and 'aaaaaahs', doesn't really seem close to imitating speech sounds and doesn't 'coooh' when you talk to him ( although he most certainly recognizes familiar voices ).
all in good time. all in good time.
“"it is hard to be brave," said piglet, sniffing slightly, "when you're only a Very Small Animal." rabbit, who had begun to write very busily, looked up and said: "it is because you are a very small animal that you will be Useful in the adventure before us."”
the complete tales & poems of winnie the poohthis site chronicles the continuing adventures of my son, odin, who was unexpectedly born on the fourth of july at 25 weeks gestation, weighing 1 pound 7 ounces.
he's quite a fighter and you can always send him a postcard to the most current address listed here if you're inspired by his adventures. see the postcard project/google maps mashup to see a map of the postcards.
if you're new, you can browse the archives to catch up. and don't forget to watch a few movies that i made while we were in the neonatal intensive care unit. or if you want the abridged version and you can find a copy, you can read about his adventures in the november 2005 issue of parents magazine.
daddytypes
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blogging baby
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rebeldad
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thingamababy
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The Continuing Adventures of Super-Preemie
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dooce
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