6-month check-up

Today was Madi's 6-month check-up. It went well, minus the shots. It's just heart-breaking. Her face scrunches up and she wails as her world falls apart. I swear she cried "why?" today. Next month is our last Synagis shot so we'll have two whole months before Madi has to get stuck again. That break will be so nice. Other than the shots everything was great. Madi's between a 3-month old and a 6-month old on developmental milestones. Her head control is more toward a 6-month old, feeding skills more toward a 3-month old. It's a relief to know she's ahead of the pack if not right in line with where she should be. Madi's stats:

weight:  13lbs 6oz  8th percentile of other 6-month olds
length:  24.5"  12th percentile
head:  16.1"  13th percentile

Just a few weeks ago Madi was still in 1% so our suspicions were confirmed - the kid's in a growth spurt. She's not quite the same buddha baby, belly's getting slimmer as she gets longer. Almost everything she grabs hold of goes toward if not into her mouth. She plays with her tongue and sometimes has spit bubbles. Madi's not too hip on the nook (pacifier, not the e-reader) unless she's hungry or self-soothing but she still gets a little breakout around her mouth from all the spittle. She is sleeping better for the most part. We usually get 4-5hours of sleep after she goes down. After the first feeding of the night she's back to every 3 though. Madi can have some crazy feeding habits. Sometimes she chugs through the 4oz in no time and has a large belch at the end. Other times she grazes through 2oz and is done. More often than not, if you break her off to burp she won't go back to eating. Sometimes if I go change her diaper or at least open it up for a bit and then go back to eating she'll remember "oh yeah, I'm not full yet" and finish but it's not a guarantee. It wouldn't be a big deal but some of those grazing periods are overnight which means she's up and hungry again less than 2hrs later. Doc says Madi should have a good eating/sleeping schedule by 6-months so 2-3 more months to go.

Since Madi's not 4mos or 14lbs we're still waiting for solid food. Doc had a good analogy for when she'll be ready:  I want her to be like a puppy with dog treats. So excited to put food in her mouth that she's begging with her mouth open, leaning in toward the food. Gives you a good picture of what to expect since we've all seen a dog begging for food! We're to be on the look out for her to pull her tongue in instead of always pushing it out; sitting up semi-reclined with good control and watching us eat. Doc mentioned that once we get to cereal it's important to eat at the table. Train Madi to associate food with sitting down to eat. Hmm, Dan and I are pretty bad about eating on the couch. We'll have to work on that. I was surprised to hear that even once we start cereal Madi's serving size is only a tablespoon. It's like starting her on milk all over again except we won't be measuring in mililiters!

Madi also had a follow up cardiologist appointment. If you remember, she had some extra fluid around her heart and we were discharged with her PDA still open. Madi had an EKG and echo and they both came back normal. Her PDA is still open but it's tiny, very tiny. Her blood flow isn't affected, her heart isn't strained so the doc gave us the all clear. We go back in a year for a check-up. The cardiologist was our last specialist to check in with after discharge.

To sum it up, Madi is right in line with full term babies born in December. Do you know what that means? Our micro-preemie isn't so "preemie" anymore. What an amazing answer to prayer.
                proof there is a God
                           prayer works
                                      miracles happen