7 months old!

Yesterday, Lochlan turned 7 months old. 7 months. What?

Yes, 7 months old. And doing so great. He had his appointment with Dr. Moore (his pediatrician) last Monday. He weighed 8 pounds and 7 1/2 ounces, was still just shy of 22 inches (55cm), and his head grew an inch and is now 40cm around.

The only thing we are concentrating on is getting his weight up. Because he is not taking a bottle anymore (he's rejecting it) she said we could try him on solids. Yes, that's right - it's cereal time! CRAZY! It seems so strange to give him cereal when he is so small. I asked about his digestive tract and she said that he should be fine. He has been eating and digesting for 7 months now.

So that night I went to Wally World and they were having a sale on cereal so I stocked up! Rice cereal, Oatmeal, Barley, and one mixed cereal for later. I felt very very odd. I had Lochlan with me and I sort of felt like people were looking at me like, isn't he a little young for that? Meanwhile, I'm sure no one even thought of it. It was all in my head. But I still felt funny.

So Tuesday morning I decided, well why the heck not? Lochlan really liked it. It was more fortified bmilk than cereal, but it was a start and he was taking it in. And giving a smile in between "bites."

He's now worked his way to 2 tablespoons and I even introduced oatmeal cereal today which he really enjoyed. He was almost yelling at me to give him more. So funny. He was doing this little scream and looking at me like, um...mom, I want more. So I had to heat up another tablespoon. So no worries about him handling solids.

Wednesday he received his 2nd RSV shot. Took it like a champ again. And he had gained a 1/4 of a ounce in 2 days. So he's up to 8 pounds, 7 3/4 ounces. (keep in mind he'd only had cereal twice which was like 1-2 teaspoons)

Thursday he had his hearing test. I laughed and said, "okay we'll try" after the phone call to remind me of the appointment that said to come with a sleepy baby. ....right! Cause that's easy to plan.

Anyway, he did so awesome. I was so proud of him! He slept for about 45 mins after being awake when we first got there and I was able to get him to sleep. He slept long enough to have his left ear tested. He still has congestion in his ear drums/sinuses. This is due to his prematurity. The tubes are flat whereas as you get older, the tubes are more like a V but not quite that high! (the tubes leading from your nose to your ears) So they put a test monitor that vibrated behind his ear to check for hearing. I can't remember exactly the terms but either way, he passed. And he has normal hearing in his left ear. His right ear, well, he didn't sleep long enough to get tested. I ended up nursing him when he woke up and the audiologist asked if I thought he's settle again. And I said, settle as in go back to sleep? And she said yes. I was like, um no. After his nap, he's usually up for about an hour and a half to two hours. She said, "oh that was a nap?" Well what was she expecting - a two hour nap? Ain't gonna happen honey! I wish! So we have to go back another day. Which reminds me I have to call the back to set up the appointment. Whoops!

Friday, Medigas came for their final visit! Woo-hoo!!!! So exciting! He was sat'ing 97-98% even getting to 99% at one point. He's amazing! We bid farewell to Melissa and she said, "oh I'll miss you Lochlan." And I replied: "Well not offense, but we won't miss you!" Hope that didn't sound too rude! So now we are just waiting for them to pick up the equipment. Lochlan sees Dr. Flavin (the breathing doctor) and hopefully he'll be starting to wean him from his puffers. I've had to move the times we give him his puffers to try to coincide with his sleep patterns overnight. He's been sleeping longer and I would hate to have to wake him to give him his meds. I've been really fortunate that he usually goes down around 7 and will wake up once overnight and then be up again around 7am. Some nights are different but overall that has been his pattern. As much as I'd love for him to sleep through more for of the night, he's doing awesome considering he's still so tiny. And because he needs his puffers, I'm okay with him waking up to feed otherwise I'd have to wake up to do it anyway. Plus, he needs all the calories he can get. I know that Dr. Moore said to not wake him in the night to eat because he needs to sleep to grow and develop.

We go from 4 appointment last week to 1 this week. Wednesday is his special infant clinic. We'll see how he's doing developmentally. I feel like he's doing fantastic. Such a miracle.

Oh wow. Time has flown by. It's almost 11pm and I should be in bed. Abby has been waking up super early these days. Anytime after 5am in free reign for her. Good times. And their nap times haven't been coinciding either. Today Lochlan was sleeping when Abby went for her nap. Within 10mins he was up. Then when he finally went back to sleep, I went to get my own nap in and I had my eyes closed for 2mins when Abby woke up! D'oh! Oh well. One day it will happen.

Thank you for continuing to follow along on our journey.

So on that note....good night!