Well Babies

Charlotte and Happy had their well child visits last week.  Here are the deets in tabular form.

	Charlotte	Abigail
Age	3 years	5 months
Height	36.5 inches	26 inches
Weight	36 lb	12 lb 12 oz
Likes	reading books eating Play Doh drawing and painting running with daddy	Charlotte Toonces eating wiggling around laughing
Dislikes	having her hair brushed having her hair washed pooping on the potty	sleeping during the day

3 months

Here are a couple of beautiful photos of Happy that Ben took recently.   Hard to believe she is already 3 months old! 

So Happy!

My estimates put her at 24 1/2 inches and about 12 pounds.  Definitely outgrowing her clothes in length!   Last week she started going to the Montessori daycare/preschool  that Charlotte attends.  She's adjusting well there, there are only two other babies so she gets lots of attention.  Some days she doesn't sleep much, but that's no different than when she is at home.  We are very fortunate to have a good nighttime sleeper - typically about 9pm to 6:30am.  Happy is now reaching for toys and bringing things to her mouth.  She also likes to watch Charlotte play and listen to her talk.   

Two Months

Beautiful

Happy had her two month well visit last week.  She was 23 3/4 inches long and 10 pounds 2 ounces, that's 87th and 20th percentile, respectively.  She is one long and skinny thing!   She had her first shots and handled it like a champ.  She has been smiling at us, but she only smiles at me in the morning for some reason.  The rest of the day she looks very serious.  She loves to look at the bright decals on the wall by the changing table and to relax outside in her bouncy seat.

Charlotte and Happy in the pack n play outside.

Happy Update

I've been planning to post for so long but then this happened:

A big storm with straight line winds came through June 21.  Mike was upstairs putting Charlotte to bed and I was downstairs.  It got super dark outside, the lights flickered and I heard a loud crashing sound.  My first (irrational) thought was that the tree in our backyard landed on our house, but since I didn't hear screaming from upstairs I figured everything was fine.  The lights flickered because the mast that connects the electrical wires to our house was ripped off by a falling branch.  We still had power, but with a live power line in our backyard.  The exact same thing happened a couple months ago from an ice storm, so when I looked out the window and saw the line down I was like, "man, that was expensive to have repaired!"  When Mike came downstairs he said something like, "oh %$&!?%."  And I said it wasn't that bad and he asked me if I had seen the garage.  I had not.  Comically, the motion light still worked and it had come on.  A large branch the size of a medium tree fell on our garage.  With a car in it.  The tree also pulled down the cable that brings internet into our home.  I can post from my phone, but it's annoying to do any writing.  So, there you have it, my excuse for not providing important vital statistics on Abigail!  It's also worth noting that the ice dam situation happened shortly after Charlotte was born.

Abigail, 5 weeks

Abigail has been slow to gain weight so we've been to the doctor for weight checks several times.  At four weeks she was 21 inches and 9 pounds 2 ounces.   Otherwise, she's doing great.  She has been sleeping through the night somewhat regularly, which seems too good to be true.  The downside is that she nurses every 1-2 hours and takes short naps during the day (another excuse for not posting).   I don't know which is worse, being sleep deprived or being stuck on the couch all day nursing a baby.  Actually, I do know what is worse, being sleep deprived.  Abigail is going to smile at me any minute now.  Mike says she smiled at him the other day and I think she was smiling at the art on the wall in the living room this afternoon.  She has a very expressive face - even when she was only a day old as demonstrated in this photo taken by her uncle Ben.

Scrunch face

I hate to compare Abigail and Charlotte, but it impossible not to.  I am struck by how different a full term baby is compared with a preemie.   Charlotte was very pliable while Abigail is so strong.  She's lifting her head up and could probably do some planks with her dad.  This whole short naps thing is very different too.  Charlotte came home on a schedule (in the NICU she had feedings at 1, 4, 7, and 11) and she took naps that were long enough for me to do something, like blog.  Another thing that is really different is just seasonal - after Charlotte came home it was winter and if we wanted to go for a walk we had to go to Target and wander around.  When Abigail came home it was summer and we can  go for walks, go to the playground, or just sit on the front stoop - it's pretty awesome.

Birth Story

So this is what "normal" is like.  A few weeks ago I remarked how strange it is to have everything going according to plan.  The whole time I was pregnant with Happy I was "waiting for the third shoe to drop" as my mom would say.  But it never did.  I had a nice, uneventful, 39 week pregnancy.  I felt pretty good almost the whole time (save for a weekend of debilitating chondritis of my ribs and just the general discomfort at the end from having a rather large baby inside).  

Saturday morning, we got up at 4 am so we could be at the hospital by 5 for surgery prep.   The actual procedure was as nice as could be. The atmosphere was totally different compared with Charlotte's birth, this time it was so relaxed and everyone was joking around.  One of the nurse anesthetists even offered to take some pictures.  

Our first picture with Abigail

Mike got take Abigail back to the recovery area and wait for me.  Then I got to hold Abigail and nurse her in the recovery area, which was sweet.  I felt so much better than after Charlotte's birth. With Charlotte I was so nervous, they gave me something to take the edge off and I was so drugged I barely remember anything.  This time, I was less nervous and I got to savor a lot more of the awesomeness of the experience.  

2 Year Well Baby Visit

Charlotte had her 2 year old check up.  She is 35 inches tall and 29 pounds.   Now that she is walking, she is starting to slim down a little.  She can even wear skinny jeans now.  I got her some super cute purple ones. 

Charlotte is becoming such a little person.  She has lots of preferences, but is still the easy-going baby we know and love.

Likes:

• any fruit, if she could she would eat nothing but fruit and pancakes
• playing outside
• pushing her doll stroller
• taking her plastic dog for a walk
• reading in bed
• music
• playing with diapers
• balloons
• Nacho, Toones, Poncho
• bathtime
• cooking
• doing dishes
• going to the coffee shop
• brushing teeth

Dislikes:

• most green vegetables
• being told what to do
• getting her hair brushed or washed
• drinking from a regular cup, unless it is in the bathtub

What a Baby

Remember when we went to the pediatric neurologist a few weeks ago?  I forgot that I took this picture of her getting her blood pressure taken.  She was not happy about it.  At the time, I thought, "what if this is the beginning of some journey?  I should document this!"  Well, it was not (knock wood).   And this is the only picture I took of the appointment.  But they did take a full set of vitals and it has been a while since I posted those so here goes:  18 months, 28 pounds; 30.5 inches (this HAS to be wrong, that would mean she has not grown since like 12 months, plus she was squirming around like crazy).

One Year

Charlotte had her 12 month well baby visit today.  She is officially a giant.  She weighs 24 lb 10 oz and is 30.5 inches long.  That's 95th percentile all around (head circumference too!).  Since her last visit, she did some major growing but maintains her proportionality from a few months ago.

10 Months

Name:  Charlotte Nawrocki

Height:  28 1/2 inches

Weight:  21 pounds

Last seen:  wearing a onesie

Likes:  

• playing with stacking cups
• splashing in the tub, pool, or lake
• going for walks
• listening to music
• talking
• feeding herself
• sitting in the grass
• swinging
• books
• Nacho, Toonces, and Poncho

Dislikes:

• being fed with a spoon
• having her arms monkeyed with (i.e. pulled through sleeves)

9 Months

Charlotte had her 9 month well baby visit today.  She is 20 pounds 1 ounce and 28 inches.  She's about the 70th percentile for everything, including head circumference.  She's very proportional.  She has mastered sitting on her own, but has shown little interest in moving around.  If a toy is out of reach, she just plays with something closer.  Charlotte will play on her tummy for a long time and will pivot around, but isn't getting up on all fours and trying to scoot or crawl.  Her pediatrician says she will probably start crawling and pulling up on furniture in the next month.  Yikes!  We are not ready - time to babyproof!  It's so easy having an immobile baby,  especially one as happy as Charlotte. 

8 Months

Charlotte is 8 months old!  She is living up to her nickname, Superchunk, weighing in at 18 pounds and just under 27 inches.  That's between the 25th and 50th percentiles in case you were wondering.  This girl loves to eat - cereal, sweet potatoes, carrots, avocado, banana, pears, peas, rutabega, blueberries, squash, apples, black beans, spinach, turkey, chicken and combinations of any of the preceding foods.  The only things she has refused so far are greens with brown rice and turnips.  She also eats these crackers called Baby Mum Mums that look like surfboards and taste like rice cakes.

Working on a Mum Mum

Our girl is doing all kinds of grown up things now.  She has been sleeping through the night for a while.   She will usually sleep from about 7 pm to 6 am.  It is so awesome!   We are a well-rested family now!   She can sit for a little while before she wobbles over.  She can roll over, but I can't tell if she is doing it on purpose.  Charlotte is such a laid back, happy baby and she doesn't seem to be in a hurry to get anywhere.  She is happy to lay on a blanket with her Indestructibles books.   She also enjoys playing with scarves by waving them around and lifting them in front of her face.  Then she removes the scarf and gives you a big grin.  Charlotte also enjoys being outside, going for walks, listening to music and babbling.

6 Months

Charlotte is six months old (yesterday).   She's 25 1/4 inches and 15 lb 9 ounces.  She is such a big girl!  Actually, she is average for her age now.  You'd never know she was a preemie, except that she is a little less coordinated than Netta and Bailey. We are going to start solids and sleep training this week.  For her six month birthday, she got a food mill and a high chair so we can make her baby food and feed it to her.  Wish us luck! 

5 Months

Charlotte is 5 months old today.  She weighs 13 pounds, 6 ounces and is almost 23 1/2 inches long. Her newest thing is grabbing stuff with her hands.  It's really fun to watch.  She grabs the toys hanging over her activity mat and brings her blanket up to mouth to chew on it.  So cute.

4 Months

Today Charlotte had her 4 month well baby visit.  She weighed 12 pounds, 12 ounces and was 23 1/4 inches long.  For some reason, she looks bigger to me and to Suze.  She was asleep when we got there so I had to wake her up to take off her clothes for the weighing and she was MAD!  Since she was already so worked up, the shots weren't that big a deal relatively speaking.  I nursed her for a while and she calmed down enough for the exam.  She is perfectly healthy in everyway - eyes, ears, heart, lungs, growth.

3 Months

Charlotte is 3 months old today (6 weeks corrected).  She's been smiling for a few weeks and today she laughed!  Sometimes, she is kind enough to sleep through the night.  Other times, she won't sleep for more than 2 hours at a time.  She is definitely starting to show a more feisty side of her personality.  She is a happy baby most of the time, but when she is mad she goes from smiles to screaming in a flash!  I weighed her and measured her today: 11 pounds 12 ounces and 23 inches.

2 Months

Today was Charlotte's 2 month appointment with the pediatrician.  She is 22 inches and 9 pounds 9 ounces.  You could probably watch her grow right now.  Preemies can grow even faster than term babies, called "catch-up growth", and land on their regular growth chart by 1 or 2 years old.  Charlotte's doctor thinks she will catch-up to her peers by 9 months or so.  When she was born, she was below the 5th percentile for weight and below the 20th percentile for height.  Now, she has jumped to the 25th percentile for weight and 40th percentile for height.  As my mom would say, she is really thriving!

Stats

Charlotte saw the pediatrician yesterday.  She is 8 pounds, 6 ounces and 20 3/4 inches already!  While I was on bedrest in the hospital, they kept saying that every day in the womb is worth two in the NICU.  That makes me wonder if she would have grown even bigger if she was born full term, which is this week.

For Archival Purposes

Here are email updates that Mike sent to our families during Charlotte's first days (before we started this blog).  I pasted them together here for archival purposes.

_______________________________________________
From:  Michael Nawrocki
To:  halfdrunkcanofpop
Date:  October 5, 2010 3:09 PM
Subject:  Happy Birthday

Charlotte James Nawrocki
5 lbs 3 ounces, 18 1/2 inches
12:23 p.m.

Emily did great.  C-section birth ordered by the doctor around 9 a.m. Ben was with us and got some beautiful pictures.  Emily is recovering nicely and Charlotte is in the Special Care Nursery on a CPAP machine to keep her lung pressure at a level where the alveoli can stay inflated, but otherwise she is breathing on her own.  So she is having a tad difficulty breathing but this is pretty standard stuff for a baby born at 33 weeks, 6 days.

Pictures to follow.

So Charlotte won the race against her cousins, which we really wanted her to lose but, who cares?  She is beautiful and in the hands of some of the best medical practitioners in the world. And I almost lost a race myself.  On the way over I thought I'd take Shepard Road as a shortcut to get to Crosstown.  But at 35E and Shepard Road traffic was a at a standstill.  I was pinned with an 18 wheeler behind me and to the left of me and a Schwann's delivery guy in front of me.  I waited there for 45 minutes.  I got out and walked up to what was going on. Joe Biden was on his way to the airport and no one could pass until he went by.  He was in town to stump for So there we sat.  I thought, "If Joe Biden makes it so I miss my baby's birth, I am definitely voting for Tom Horner this fall!!!"

_______________________________________________
From:  Michael Nawrocki
To:  halfdrunkcanofpop
Date:  October 5, 2010 3:16 PM
Subject:  Re:  Happy Birthday

p.s.
Full head of black hair.  Long toes.  Allegedly she has her father's eyes, but we can't confirm that because they are always closed. I miss her.  Think I'll ditch Emily for awhile and see how Charlotte is doing.  Feels weird and great actually calling her by a real name.

_______________________________________________
From:  Michael Nawrocki
To:  halfdrunkcanofpop
Date:  October 7, 2010 12;25 PM
Subject:  Charlotte Update

Charlotte is doing GREAT!!!!!!!!  After a trial run of taking her of the CPAP yesterday (and replacing it with a cannula)  failed, last night was spent getting her back to equilibrium.  She did great through the night and they tried again this morning right as we walked in late this morning.  They took out the CPAP and put in a cannula. And this time it took.  She stayed calm and her breathing and blood O2 sats stayed well over 90% (the goal), so they let us hold her.  Highlights:

1. We saw her open her eyes for the first time and she looked right as us when we talked to her.
2. We both got to hold her.
3. I changed my first diaper ever with a lot of help form the nurse.
4. She took her first feeding of Emily's breast milk.  Emily has been pumping every three hours and they have been storing it up for this moment. And they feed through a tube.

Video and pics to follow sometime between now and when Charlotte turns 18.

_______________________________________________
From:  Michael Nawrocki
To:  halfdrunkcanofpop
Date:  October 7, 2010 2:34 PM
Subject:  Emily Update

Both Ben and Beth have asked for updates on Emily.  Emily is doing awesome.  We have ditched the wheelchair and she walks to and from the nursery slowly but easily.  Her husband needs to be retrained because he keeps walking at normal speed.  Then I'll hear this "okay bye" and I turn around and she's ten yards back.

Physically there is still pain but nothing unusual.  For someone who whines about people on the radio in the morning (or any time of day, she would like me to correct), she sure is one tough lady. Emotionally, she is super happy.  So am I.

_______________________________________________
From:  Michael Nawrocki
To:  halfdrunkcanofpop
Date: October 9, 2010 9:13 PM
Subject: Re:  Cottage conference thought

Just as a heads up, I am not sure how many visitors Charlotte would be able to see.  Charlotte's immunity will not be up to snuff when we take her home.  Exactly what that means in terms of who can visit and how often remains to be seen.  We are taking this one day at a time and will keep everyone posted on that.  The possibilities range from no restrictions to a lot of restrictions.

I hope it's okay if I hijack this thread to briefly say Charlotte is doing great.  She is breathing on her own and off the IV.  She still needs the light for jaundice prevention and she still needs support to maintain her body temperature.  She now only has one tube in her, an NG tube for feeding.  Two days ago they gave Charlotte 5 cc of Emily's milk to see if she could tolerate it.  When I left tonight after her last feeding, she took 35 cc. Emily is getting to the point where she can keep up with the the demand, in tems of what she can supply.

Emily is kicking ass too,  She had a good day today.  Her soreness post-surgery persists and she is not overly fond of living at Fairview Southdale.  But we both agree it is worth it.

No word on when Charlotte comes home,  She has to be nursing independently and pass a carseat test.  So we are on her schedule.  Like I said, we go one day at a time.

_______________________________________________
From:  Michael Nawrocki
To:  halfdrunkcanofpop
Date: October 10, 2010 2:00 PM
Subject: Re:  Charlotte Update

Update #3
Things continue to progress nicely for both Emily and Charlotte.

Beginning with Charlotte,
1. Her biliruben (or however you spell it) count is back to normal so
no more blue light for now and hopefully forever.
2. She and Emily worked on learning how to nurse for the first time this morning.  Charlotte latched a few times which exceeded expectations for a first time trial.  The two ladies will have their second practice this evening.  We used to two-a-days in college for track and cross country.  Quite frankly, those workouts seem a lot easier than the work Emily and Charlotte go through.

Emily...
1. Has a swollen ankle which she researched thoroughly and learned is normal post-pregnancy. But it was pretty painful and stiff through the night and improving today.
2. Had some issues with expressing milk but thanks in part to Jessie's nurse and mostly to a nurse we had here, Emily learned a few tricks of the trade to make things work and now she is doing a great job.  This is a huge relief both mentally and physically (literally) for Emily. And that is really the most I want to talk about my wife's mammary glands with everyone.  Bottom line is she is 100% happier today than she was 24 hours ago.