Wednesday, June 4, 2008

God's gift to mothers (besides, of course, the baby)...

I just want to quickly comment on the Moby wrap prior to getting into meatier topics. The Moby wrap is God's gift to moms. I know it's simple, it's just a long piece of fabric, many cultures have been using this same setup to carry their babies for thousands of years, ours was just a little late to get on board. When Maizey is screaming (which seems to be often these days) I put her into the Moby and after some resistance at first, I get a sleepy and happy baby that is cuddled onto my chest for hours. Not to mention it's awfully conducive to hands-free parenting. I can wash dishes, blog, pee, what have you, all while she is wrapped up and asleep.
Meatier topics:

Laser Surgery Tomorrow!
So, little Miss Maizey went and saw the Pediatric Dermatologist yesterday. The good news is that the doctor we saw is really intelligent and aggressive (she's been a vascular anomaly specialist at Children's for 15 years). The bad news is Maizey, the poor little pumpkin, has to have laser surgery treatments--probably 3 or so. The first treatment is tomorrow. There is no sedation or anything like that, which is a relief for me, so she'll be awake for the procedure. She'll have to have her eyes covered with patches and we'll have to hold her head still so I know she'll be screaming at the top of her lungs (what a weird expression?? vs the bottom of her lungs, which are much quieter??). Plus, the procedure hurts, they equate it to being snapped with a rubber band over and over--no thanks. She reassured me that infants tend to forget immediately and that she'll be feeling fine as soon as the procedure is done (it takes about 15 min). The surgeries will help to slow the growth of the hemangioma down, but won't fix it entirely. There will be some sort of steroid regimen (either taken orally or injected at the site) in the future. Steroids are really good at stopping tumor (which technically this is) growth and can even shrink it. It seems like it's all over kill, but the doc informed me that with these types of growths there can be a lot of scarring if there is no intervention. Plus, it's starting to push up on her lower eyelid. It's encouraging to know that we won't have to deal with this beyond about one year of age since these things tend to involute and go away about that time anyway.

Phew, I'm glad I got all that out.

Moving right along. My little bambina is BIG. She weighed in today at a whopping 7lbs 11oz! To think she was only 4lbs 10oz 5 weeks ago is NUTS! She's growing out of her preemie clothes, which makes me so happy that she is growing, but so sad that she won't be able to wear some of my favorite little outfits anymore. I know that my future niece Harper is already set for clothes, but she might be having some more come her way! Anyway, taking Maizey's prematurity into account, she is still only in the 5th percentile...oh except for her HUGE noggin, which puts her into the whopping 25th percentile. She got the big Gebow head. Big head equals big brain.

Here are some recent photos and some from today. I'll post some AFTER shots of her hemagioma tomorrow or the next day.


Here we are just a few minutes ago, getting ready to blog. Maizey is in her Moby wrap...God's gift to mamas.

Maizey's Before shot taken today 6/3.

Maizey is so dang cute. Here we are today after a bottle.

My new favorite way to nap. Maizey seems to like it too!

My second favorite invention after the Moby. It's a sleep sack AND a swaddle blanket in one, and it's made swaddling her for night time SOSOSO much easier!

This is Maize passed out in her car seat with her pacifier hanging out of her mouth and her hands just so. She's very elegant with her little hands. My future ballerina--or woodworker I suppose.

3 comments:

Erika said...

I miss her so much. Can you guys come down early on Sunday before Sue's?

Beth Zarling said...

Her first laser treatment and she is only 5 weeks. How very Hollywood she is!

Jessica Zevely said...

I love this little peanut!