Adaptations

We have been told over and over again that babies are surprisingly resilient. During the first couple weeks of Lexi being in her cast, we were starting to doubt that sentiment, as we came home with a baby that whined all the time and screamed for 3-4 hours straight every night. However, now that we have just surpassed week number 2, we are starting to see this resilience. Actually, she is amazing us and really is starting to adapt exceptionally well.

For starters, we have cleared up the raw skin on her butt for the most part. She is a much happier camper now because of it. We did this despite her surgeon never returning our call. At first we were annoyed, but then we tried to focus on the most important things. We chose her because she was a good surgeon, not because she was a great communicator. We have learned time and again that she isn't the latter, but she indeed proved to be the former which is most important. Having a good surgeon that is excited about her work and getting it right is the most important thing when someone works on your child.

Lexi has started adjusting to the cast as well, and there hasn't been quite as much whining. She has even pretty much slept through the night the last couple nights. Today, though, her resiliency and ability to adapt became abundantly clear with an amazing feat. Lexi was playing on her tummy with her toys. Unfortunately, I was trying to get some work done, so I wasn't staring at her the whole time. When I looked again, she had managed to flip herself over onto her back, which is no small feat given the cast pretty much anchors her lower half to the ground. Although this makes me proud and makes me laugh, it also makes me feel like maybe I should go back and apologize to the stupid nurse who was trying to give me lessons on keeping the hospital crib railings up, as maybe she was giving Lexi more credit than I was!

Raw Deal

We have felt that Lexi has been given a raw deal in life so far. She never seems to catch a break on anything. Well, that trend, unfortunately, continues. Today she developed a raw behind, literally. Although we have been diligent about cleaning her and trying to keep her as cool as possible, something didn't work, as she literally has raw skin on the bottom of her back where the cast starts. We're not certain if some poop got on there, if it is a heat rash, or if the cast alone has irritated that area. Regardless, something is not working with her sensitive skin. Literally overnight she developed this, as we have been checking for skin irritation every single day. We tried to call her surgeon to see what actions we should take, but didn't get a return call all day. We will try again tomorrow. Until then, we've put barrier cream and powder on it to reduce the rubbing from any of the three options described above. We hope she actually catches a break soon and heals, as she already has enough she's dealing with without this new irritant. The one bright spot in our lives...we've seen mostly 80-degree weather for the last several days, so we've actually gotten Lexi out of the house to sport her new sunglasses!

Milk Donations

As many of you are aware, Lexi did not tolerate my breast milk for more than about a month after we first got home from the hospital. Therefore, I have had a freezer full of breast milk for quite awhile now, as we've waited for her to hit a stage where she can tolerate it, so that we can feed her free food instead of her expensive formula. Everyone knows Lexi does things her own way, though, and several attempts to transition her back to breast milk have been unsuccessful. Recently, Brian and I finally faced the fact that she probably wouldn't ever be able to go back to breast milk.

So, I remembered back to the NICU days. The doctors and nurses were adamant about the importance of breast milk for babies, especially premature ones. They said any little bit they get is great, as it helps not only with the development of antibodies but also is the easiest on the digestive system. Therefore, we didn't want the breast milk to go to waste when it could be of such help to another baby. So, I am going through the process right now of donating it to a milk bank. Milk banks collect unused breast milk, pasteurize it, and send it to hospitals all over the country for moms who aren't fortunate enough to produce, or produce enough, breast milk to use with their newborns. I wholeheartedly agree that breast milk is great for babies, so I would hate to envision a parent who wants that for their child but is not able to provide it. The process actually is quite simple. You fill out a questionnaire, get some basic blood work completed, and then ship the frozen milk in cartons they provide. If anyone out there is lucky enough to over-produce, or unlucky enough to have your own child not tolerate it, please consider donating, as there are plenty of babies out there who could really benefit from it!