XP: Adalyn's 2 Great MD appts!

I was a little nervous going to Adalyn's 2 doctor's appointments today. She had a pediatrician appointment (follow-up to check her weight, etc) and her first pulmonologist appointment. I was nervous, irrationally so, that they were going to tell us something was wrong and/or that Adalyn needed to see another specialist or something.

Today was a day where if you had the option you would stay in! The skies were gray, and when it was time to load her up in the car, it started to pour. So, DH had to pull the Accord in the garage (and the Altima out) so that we wouldn't get drenched! Luckily, her pediatrician's office is at the hospital, so we park in the parking garage and have a covered walkway.

Adalyn has been gaining weight fabulously and is up to 7.8 pounds (3.58 kg) and is 20 inches long (51.5cm)! She is, of course, not even on the growth charts--ie, less than 2 percentile--but that is because she is compared to full term babies, so it's nothing to worry about. When you adjust it for being a preemie, she falls between the 10th and 25th percentile for weight, length, and head circumference. Our pediatrician said that the AAP recommends to plot her growth on the regular growth charts to see when she finally catches up with regular full-term babies.

We also brought up how we've noticed a few cases of reflux, where hours after she's eaten she'll cough up, almost choke on it a little, desat a little, and then come back up. The pediatrician prescribed Zantac to see if it will help. So, now Daddy and Adalyn are both on ranitadine. I don't think that DH ever thought that he would be on the same medication as his daughter.

We also mentioned how we weren't sure if she had thrush or not, since her tongue was sometimes white and other times not. She said that Adalyn had a very small touch of thrush and prescribed some nystatin for that. It'll be good to get it before it spreads to the rest of her mouth.


We set up for her 4 month appointment next week (yikes! She's already almost 4 months old!) where she'll get her next round of vaccinations. So, we'll probably not have a very happy baby next Tuesday, but she did really well with her shots when she was in the hospital, so hopefully she'll do great.

Then we went to the pulmonologist. Great news there also! Her new magic number is 92 on the pulse ox. If she is satting at 92, her doctor said that we could keep her off the oxygen. He said that it was perfectly normal that she needs it more while she sleeps than when she is awake since we don't breathe as deep when we're sleeping. He also said for us to stop the caffeine (yay!) and that we could just do the apnea monitor at night and while she is in the car seat. He said to see how she does for a day or so without the caffeine before cutting out the apnea monitor during the day, however. He said for us to keep trying to wean her off the oxygen as long as she is over 92, and that we could try her feedings without the oxygen as well! He is having us come back in 2 months, and hopefully then she'll get to be completely off the oxygen and maybe all the monitors!

So, in summary, we added 2 new meds, but took away 1! And, we get to have her a little less wired.