OT Maya's 4 Month Update from Deb_M

Maya – 4 Months Old

They say time flies & they (whoever they are) are so right!  Maya has been home now for over 5 weeks.  I think we’ve all settled in and have pretty much figured each other out.  Of course, Maya is constantly changing, so just when we think we’ve found a routine…it changes.  Oh, life with a newborn.  We know she’s over 4 months old now, but need to remember her adjusted age of 4 weeks to determine where she should be developmentally, sleepwise, etc.  Sometimes she seems like she’s somewhere in the middle.  Some nights she just can’t calm down, and sometimes she’ll sleep for 6 hours straight.  Usually she sleeps for 3-4 hours at a pop.  Either way, things are going great and we are totally in love with her!  She is truly a little doll and makes such an impression on everyone that sees her.

Home seems to be agreeing with her too.  She is up to 5 lbs, 12 ozs and is over 18” long.  She went back to visit the Duke NICU docs at the Special Infant Care Clinic last week and they were thrilled with her progress.  She seems to be doing everything that they expect and more.  She’s a strong little girl, can do crazy things with her head, and they even showed us how she’ll try to walk if you stand her up on her legs!  That said, we’re not supposed to stand her on her legs at all, because that will hamper her muscle development on the front side.  Apparently that’s a problem for all preemies.  Since they don’t have the time curled up in utero, those core muscles don’t develop.  So we need to do what we can to keep her curled up to help the front muscles catch up with the back. Anyway, the Drs were really happy, and said we’ve been doing a good job with her.  Yea!

Her eye appointments have been going well too.  It’s always stressful for her when they start coming at her with the eye drops, and the exam is especially stressful.  They say it doesn’t hurt, I think it scares her though, and certainly makes her mad.  But, we survive and at the end keep getting rewarded with good news.  Today Dr. Freedman said both of her eyes are getting better!  The right eye is improving at a faster rate because it had the help from the laser, but we’re thrilled that her left eye is showing improvement now too.

Maya has become quite the little social butterfly.  We’ve been going on shopping excursions, a few cookouts and to neighborhood playgroups.  Lots of my friends have had babies in the past year, so it’s good for us all to get together.  Spirit and Shadow have gotten used to having Maya around.  Spirit gets a little curious when Maya is down on her level, and Shadow is our little babysitter…alerting us when Maya is crying.  Thankfully everyone seems to get along fine.  We had her 1^st official pictures taken last week.  I’m enclosing one  so you can see how much she’s changed (naked baby alert!)  It’s so nice to see her face and body filling out.  She sure has come a long way!  How did we get so blessed?

Hope everything is well with all of our family and friends.

All our love,

Ryan, Deb & Maya

Link to photo in Barbara's Photo Album... 

http://www.obesityhelp.com/myoh/photos/489707/Maya/Maya-4months-jpg/#photo

I couldn't see any pictures in the post, but I could with the link... is there any way to make it bigger?  I want to get a good look at that little cutie!  Thanks for posting for us and keeping us in the loop!
-Donna

That was the size of the photo that I received from Deb... I'm sorry it's so small. 

If you copy it to your personal computer and view it with your own graphics package you may be able to see it better... At least that worked with mine.

Great news, and she is growing big and strong!! Beautiful little girl! Send my well wishes to Deb okay! Shari

Is this from the Deb that was going into early labor and some hospitals/doctors wouldn't even take her because she was so early (like 23 weeks), but then she finally found a place that would take her and they saved her baby?  Or am I confusing this with someone else?

Nope...you're not confused...it's the same Deb....with her beautiful little girl who's healthy and strong.  She should take her to see the drs *****jected taking her because she was so early and show them what a miracle they passed up.

She is a doll. I am so happy she is getting better all the time. She looks just adorable.