May 10, 2009: 3 Months! (and Happy Mother's Day)

3 month picture with the Moose

Look how much I've grown!

Yup, I'm the little brother (Donan, as Carter would say)

LOOK! I'm lifting my head!

Yes, I'm pretty good at it!


Cohen is 3 months old, but 1 week adjusted age. He had his 3 month check up and got his first round of vaccines. His doctor did not want to give Cohen vaccines at his 2 month appointment because she wanted to make sure he was growing and thriving outside of the NICU. He tolerated them fairly well…after the first shot he just squawked at the nurse, but after shots 2 and 3 the nurse and I had to blow on his face to help him catch his breath. He was pretty annoyed with the whole situation and ended up sleeping for quite awhile afterwards.

I took the opportunity to discuss our problem with Cohen’s NICU sleeping habits with the doctor to see what we could do to help ease the transition. Some background: in the NICU he slept primarily on his stomach (which is the main reason we are having scaphocephaly issues…) and was allowed to do so because he was hooked up to all the monitors. When he was discharged, he was, literally, unhooked and handed to us with strict instructions to have him sleep on his back. (Due to the increase risk of SIDS with stomach sleeping babies) So, here we are 4 weeks after discharge and Cohen will NOT sleep on his back. Period. He screams bloody murder if he is put on his back to sleep. The only way we have been able to get any sleep in our house is if we trick him by putting him on his side (but even that is dangerous), taking turns watching him sleep on his belly (that makes for very grumpy parents), or I sleep semi sitting up with him sleeping on my chest (which is usually what we end up doing). Needless to say, this can’t continue for very much longer. I tried explaining this all to his doctor at the 2 month appointment and I don’t think she really believed. At this appointment she tried it out for herself…first placing him on the table on his back (he screamed), and then putting him on his tummy (he fell asleep). Her suggestion is to make him spend some time on his back during the day where I can watch him and allow him to scream if he needs to…and hopefully this will get him used to sleeping on his back. Um, yeah right. I inquired about getting an apena monitor and in order to get insurance to pay for it we will have to spend 48 hours at the hospital prior to going home with it. We have to wait 2-3 weeks to attempt the doctor’s idea of “back time” (as opposed to tummy time) , and then she’ll let us go that route if we choose. I’m not sure why the 54 days in the NICU wasn’t enough of a hospital stay (and I’m pretty seasoned at the apnea monitor if you ask me), but if 48 hours in the hospital will allow us to get some sleep…so be it. In the meantime, Cohen will get his back time during the day and will continue to sleep on my chest at night.

Cohen was quite the show off at his appointment. His doctor went through the developmental milestones of a newborn and a three month old, just to see where he was developmentally. When he was on his tummy, he pushed up on his arms and held his head up and looked from side to side! His doctor was totally impressed. His eyes are starting to track as well. Prematurity is a funny thing. You see he looks like he is a newborn, but some of his actions (tracking eyes, lifting head) make him seem older. I’ve had a couple people tell me how amazed they are that my newborn’s eyes aren’t crossing and that they are actually tracking, or that my newborn shouldn’t be able to hold his head up like that….as I’ve said before, I’m done telling the prematurity story, so I let people think what they want to think :)

I will end this post with Cohen’s 3 month statistics: (the percentage is for 29 weekers at his current age of 3 months)
Weight: 8lbs (35%)
Length: 21.5inches (75%)