January 21, 2009

Life of a preemie:

I received this in an email from one of those cool newsletters where you put in your due date and then it sends you weekly updates, and then when you have your baby, you put in the day that they were born and they send you info on each stage. This is what I received this week for Amaree:


Can you believe your baby's five months old now? What a huge difference from his sleepy newborn days -- he now has a clearly developing personality. Bubbly? High-maintenance? Super-mellow? And he's growing so fast now! Soon your baby may double his birth weight, if he hasn't already (most do so between 4 and 6 months; most babies triple their birth weight by their first birthday). In fact, he may be due for another growth spurt soon.



Wait a minute! She is really FIVE MONTHS-September, October, November, December, January. Whoa. Sleepy newborn days? She hasn't been a sleepy newborn since she came home. Maybe when she was in the hospital, but not here.


Clearly developing personality? Are you kidding me? The kid has so much personality that she came three months early! She won't let me put her down, she know what she likes and what she doesn't like and has always been that way. If we adjust this to match her gestational age, by the time she is gestationally five months I don't know if her personality will stay inside her. She might explode.


Also, double her birth weight? LOL, she is going to quadruple her birth weight in a matter of days if she hasn't already.


Preemie development is different than a regular baby in the way that you have to watch for developmental milestone. Milestones should be achieved GESTATIONALLY. However, things like immunizations must be done CHRONOLOGICALLY. Sometimes it can get really confusing trying to figure out which one we are working with.


Andrew had to take a test in SLC and Amaree and I went went him. I went to Sam's Club and a lady saw Amaree and said, "Oh, she must be about two weeks old." I said, "Uh, Actually she is about five months old." She gave me this look, and was incredulous when I told her that she really was that old. Amaree is just reaching the size of most newborns, but she is quite old for her size.