Coburn Kids

Soooo… long time I know.  Holidays have been crazy but good. Caden is doing well, he’s at the 10 lb. mark now and growing well, even getting a little bit chubby. His ROP appointment on Dec. 21st was good news. His left eye’s ROP has completely regressed, his right eye is still at a Stage 2. In March we have a follow-up appointment to check if he needs glasses and to just make sure his ROP is doing fine.

He’s a very good baby, 1/2 the week he sleeps through the night. The other 1/2 he gets up only once at about 3 or 4 am. Hardly ever cries, he’s pretty content. His surgery is in 17 days with his palate prosthesis appointment on Jan. 7th and a pre-surgery consult with craniofacial on the 8th. I’m a wreck thinking of handing my little baby over for surgery. So many worries with the intubation, general anesthesia. We aren’t sure how long he’ll be in there for, minimum of overnight with 2 surgeries to handle but it could be longer if there are complications. Which wouldn’t be a stretch with Caden.

He see’s Early Intervention and his OT every Friday at 8:30am. He’s doing very well for his age and is on mark for his adjusted age of 2 months. His feedings are still about 1/2 bottle and 1/2 NG tube.  He’ll take a full bottle probably 2-3 times during the week. Caden’s color does not look good, he’s bluish.  He was anemic when he came home so I’m thinking that even with the iron fortified formula and the iron drops he’s still not getting enough.  He has to maintain his iron levels for his surgery. Vicky, his OT, also thought we should check his saturation levels for oxygen as well so I’m calling the doctor today.

Just breaks a mommy’s heart to have such a little angel that’s so content and happy and he has to endure all this. The good news is that Caden hasn’t been sick once since birth.  I’m hoping he actually HAS an immune system unlike his older sister Gena who get’s sick at the drop of a hat.  Either that or all this hand sanitizing and washing is really paying off.  The girls are beyond excellent about it and Genevieve will literally insist on sanitizing her hands every time before she touches Caden.  I’m making my kids have obsessive compulsions at age 6 and 3!

Well well, let’s see what there is to report now that Caden is 18 weeks old and has been home for 2 weeks.  He is now 9lb. 2oz.’s. He still takes only about 1/2 his feeding by bottle and the other by his NG tube. His sisters continue to adore him, this boy never lacks for attention.  We’ve had his pictures taken, he’s seen his home health nurse 3 times, he’s been to the pediatrician, his ROP test at Primary Children’s was a 3 hour ordeal but he’s at Stage 3 still but Zone 3 for his eyes… excellent.  His nurse is coming out this Thursday. He has Early Childhood Intervention coming out Friday morning, later that day he has another pediatrician appointement. (Remember, we’ve been told not to expose him to too many people, go too many places per his discharge papers…. HA!) Dec. 19th we go for his 2nd synagis shot. That same week we are in for another ROP test on Dec. 21st, and we still need to make another appointment with his plastic/craniofacial surgeon Dr. Warnock. He has his palate prosthesis appointment with Dr. Y on Jan. 7th then his big surgery day for his lip and his hernia on Jan. 14th!

He’s such a cutie though, doesn’t get up much at night.  He’s a grunter but my mom gave us a video monitor which has been heaven sent so I can check up on him but not have to hear him all through the night!  His forumula seems to be costing a fortune. It’s about $15 a can but we have to concentrate it more to bring it up to 24 calories. 20 calories is normal, 22 you can buy in the store. We go through about a can every 3 days since he takes about 2-3 oz. a feeding. Maybe I’m just being introduced to how expensive formula feeding is!!  $150 a month right now. Too bad there’s no “generic” high calorie formulas out there.