12/31/06: Day 170 (Sun.) Ending the Season With a Victory!*

Evan watching the last Steeler game of the year

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijxod4wnbg4

We were experimenting trying to see if we could make it look like Evan was on the tv screen:




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Chronological age: 24 weeks and 2 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 3 months, 2 weeks and 1 day
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12/30/06: Day 169 (Sat.) Hiding from us

We gave Evan a break from his oxygen the past 2 days. His new trick is to cover his face with the burp cloth when we're feeding him his bottle. We'll try to catch it on video.
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Chronological age: 24 weeks and 1 day
Adjusted/developmental age: 3 months, 2 weeks and 0 days
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12/29/06: Day 168 (Fri.) RSV Shot and Weight Update!

Evan had his 3rd Synagis shot today. You can read his latest weight/length below (he's becoming a chunker)!. He had gained 1 lb. 5 oz. since the last Synagis shot in November, so the nurse said she had to add a cc to his injection (a good thing). He was a trooper again during the injection. He cried for about a minute and then was fine.

He has his 6-month well-baby exam on January 17th (which also means his 6-month shots also). We asked the nurse to do a quick oxygen saturation check on him also. We turned off his oxygen and he was in the upper-90's, which is excellent. We can tell the pulmonologist in Tucson that he is finally at a normal level at our altitude.



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Weight update!
11 lbs. 4oz; 23 inches long
Chronological age: 24 weeks and 0 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 3 months, 1 weeks and 6 days
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12/28/06: Day 167 (Thurs.) Snow Again

Another snowy day! The snow level wasn't quite down to our level, but it made for a nice view of the mountains.
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Chronological age: 23 weeks and 6 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 3 months, 1 weeks and 5 days
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12/25/06: Day 164 (Mon.) Christmas!*

Evan has a message for Bop (Jen's Dad):


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Chronological age: 23 weeks and 3 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 3 months, 1 weeks and 2 days
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12/24/06: Day 163 (Sun.) Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at Tom & Ann's house along with other friends and co-workers. We didn't bring Evan along for fear of him getting sick around all those people. :-( My friend Stacy was there with her baby (I blogged about her back in September, she gave birth to Nathan when Evan was in the SV nursery). Nathan is a big boy! He's over 16 pounds and is about 3.5 months.

We had a "white elephant" gift exchange amongst the ladies. It didn't get too mean and nasty. :-)
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Chronological age: 23 weeks and 2 day
Adjusted/developmental age: 3 months, 1 weeks and 1 day
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12/22/06: Day 161 (Fri.) X-mas Pics

Today we took Evan to Sears for his first Christmas pics. We're getting his six-month pictures done next month, but I figured we'd kick ourselves if we didn't get Christmas pics done. We didn't purchase a whole bunch of them (so I didn't buy the photo cd), the pics should be in after New Year's. Since T's mom is staying with us, we got a nice picture of her and Evan together.

While we were waiting to get his photos taken, there was a family in front of us with twin boys and an older brother. I found out that the twins were in UMC (not sure how old they were but they were walking and talking, maybe 2). The mom said Dr. Tsai took care of her boys also. Small world! I don't think her twins were as preemie as Evan since she said they caught up really quickly to their chronological age. Sort of funny that the parents noticed the tell-tale tape marks on Evan's face from the nasal cannula.

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Chronological age: 23 weeks and 0 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 3 months, 0 weeks and 6 days
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12/20/06: Day 159 (Wed.) Visit By Az EIP

Today we had a home visit by a representative from the Blake Foundation. The local office of the Blake Foundation is a part of the Arizona Early Intervention Program (Az EIP). The Arizona Early Intervention Program, also known as AzEIP (pronounced Ay-zip), is a statewide system of supports and services for families of children, birth to three, with disabilities or developmental delays.

Since Evan is a preemie, he qualifies for the program. Today was just a paperwork day with the case worker. Dulce (the case worker) is scheduling a physical therapist to come out and check on his development. That probably won't take place until after the holidays.

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Chronological age: 22 weeks and 5 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 3 months, 0 weeks and 4 days
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12/19/06: Day 158 (Tues.) Snow Day!*

A rare snow day in Arizona!!

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Chronological age: 22 weeks and 4 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 3 months, 0 weeks and 3 days
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12/16/06: Day 155 (Sat.)*

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Chronological age: 22 weeks and 1 day
Adjusted/developmental age: 3 months, 0 weeks and 0 days
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12/14/06: Day 153 (Thurs.) 5 Months Old!

Today marks Evan's 5-Month birthday! Amazing how the time has flown! Now that he is hitting close to the 3-month adjusted age mark, he is starting to get a happy personality. Some of the things he is doing now: kicking like a crazy-man in his bouncer chair; smiling at us (when he's not just gassy); drinking 4 ounces every feeding; and sleeping a lot more through the night.
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Chronological age: 21 weeks and 6 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 2 months, 4 weeks and 0 days
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12/13/06: Day 152 (Wed.) Avid Sports Reader

I've found that Evan has a particular fondness for Sports Illustrated magazine. Not sure if it's the texture of the pages..s but he loves sitting on my lap and trying to turn the pages. :-)

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Chronological age: 21 weeks and 5 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 2 months, 3 weeks and 6 days
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12/12/06: Day 151 (Tues.) Doctor Visit!

Evan had a follow-up appointment at the Children's Multi-Specialty Clinic in Tucson. We thought we would be seeing Dr. Morgan, but it was a different doctor (I think it was Dr. Brown). Our appointment was at 8:30am and we hoped we wouldn't have to wait as long as we did at the last appointment.

The nurse called us back to do his stats...he weighed 10 pounds 5 ounces; was 22 inches long; and his head circumference was 39 cm. I plotted his latest stats on that image, so you can click on it to see a bigger view. He's still just below average, but that's o.k.!

The doctor suggested we increase his amount to 4 ounces every feeding. He's been taking about 3 ounces every time. We have to get him to about 28+ ounces a day in order to plump him up more.

The nurse came in with the "magic" pulse oximeter. Of course Evan maxed out on the pulse ox while on the oxygen. Now, the moment of truth...we turned off the oxygen flow. He did great! He averaged about 96-97%. That was a big improvement from two months ago when he was averaging the low 90s.

We were hoping to hear the great news that he could come off the oxygen...um...didn't happen. At least we can stop the Lasix in two weeks. The doctor didn't want to make too many changes at once since he's wanting us to increase the amount of his feeds. When he comes off the Lasix, we have to watch for any major changes in his breathing. While he's sleeping, we have to do periodic respiration counts to make sure he's not laboring harder to breathe. He should be breathing between 30-40 respirations per minute. If he is breathing more rapidly, it's a sign that there may be moisture build-up in his lungs and we have to start the Lasix again.

We have to come back (again) for follow-up in about 5 weeks. The doctor anticipates that he will get the green light to stop the oxygen. The next time we take him to see Dr. Ettinger, we need to get a pulse oximeter reading on him to see what his true oxygen saturation is at our altitude.

So, we continue with the oxygen! Bummer!

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**Weight Check: 10 lbs. 5 oz.
**Height check: 22 inches
Chronological age: 21 weeks and 4 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 2 months, 3 weeks and 5 days
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12/11/06: Day 150 (Mon.) It's a Record!

Check out this sleep-time record! 7 straight hours!

Sleep check:
Bedtime: 10:30pm
zzzz-Sleep-zzzz
Feeding: 5:30am

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Chronological age: 21 weeks and 3 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 2 months, 3 weeks and 4 days
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10/10/06: Day 149 (Sun.) Crazy kicking*

I tried to catch a vid of Evan while he was kicking like a crazy-guy. These are a bit more mellow than what he was doing.





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Chronological age: 21 weeks and 2 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 2 months, 3 weeks and 3 days
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12/9/06: Day 148 (Sat.) Some vids*

Sleep check:

Bedtime: 10:30pm
zzzz-Sleep-zzzz
Feeding: 2:30am
zzzz-Sleep-zzzz
Feeding: 7:00am

Evan drinking his bottle


Drinking some more


Trying to get him to babble (long vid)




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Chronological age: 21 weeks and 1 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 2 months, 3 weeks and 2 days
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12/8/06: Day 147 (Fri.)

Sleep Check
Bed time: 9:30pm
zzzz-Sleep-zzzz
Feeding: 12:30am
zzzz-Sleep-zzzz
Feeding: 4:00am
zzzz-Sleep-zzzz
Feeding: 7:00am

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Chronological age: 21 weeks and 0 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 2 months, 3 weeks and 1 day
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12/7/06: Day 146 (Thurs.)

Sleep check:

Bedtime: 9:30pm
zzzz-Sleep-zzzz
Feeding: 3:00am
zzzz-Sleep-zzzz
Feeding: 6:00am

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Chronological age: 20 weeks and 6 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 2 months, 3 weeks and 0 days
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12/6/06: Day 145 (Wed.)

Sleep check:

Bedtime: 9:30pm
zzzz-Sleep-zzzz
Feeding: 2:30am
zzzz-Sleep-zzzz
Feeding: 6:30am

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Chronological age: 20 weeks and 5 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 2 months, 2 weeks and 6 days
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12/5/06: Day 144 (Tues.) We're in Double Digits!

Evan had his 4-month shots today...and he is finally in the double digits on his weight! He weighed in at 10 pounds, 1 ounce! He had 3 injections today (not fun), but he did fine. He cried for about a minute and then he was fine.
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**Weight Check: 10 lbs. 1 oz.**
Chronological age: 20 weeks and 4 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 2 months, 2 weeks and 5 days
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12/2/06: Day 141 (Sat.) SEC Champs!

Evan and his dad enjoyed watching the Florida - Arkansas game. Luckily, the Gators won (or it would have been a bad evening in the household). With the USC loss...could the Gators play in Arizona for the national championship? We'll see!

Earlier in the day, the Theta girls held their annual Chapter Leadership Workshop. The girls presented me with a special gift for Evan...his own mini-Ben jersey. I'll post a photo later. It was great working with this old group of officers!

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Chronological age: 20 weeks and 1 day
Adjusted/developmental age: 2 months, 2 weeks and 2 days
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12/1/06: Day 140 (Fri.) Sleeping Longer

I'm starting to keep a running log of Evan's nighttime sleep/eat patterns. Not exciting, I know, but it's some filler on these days where not a lot is going on.

Sleep: 10:30pm
Feeding: 12:30am
zzzz-Sleep-zzzz
Feeding: 6:00am

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Chronological age: 20 weeks and 0 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 2 months, 2 weeks and 1 day
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