One Month Old

Stats:  At three weeks old, Matilda weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce (16th percentile), was 20 inches long (29th percentile), with a head circumference of 13.5 inches (21st percentile).

Sleep:  Still very sporadic.  She still sleeps in 1-3 hour increments for anywhere from 12 to 16 hours a day.  It takes a bit more effort to get her to go down these days.  Usually it involves a lot of jiggling, rocking, bouncing, etc. for her to fall asleep.  She prefers to sleep on mom or in the bed, but we're trying to keep her in the bouncer or Pack N Play as much as possible.

Eat:  This girl loves to eat.  She gets so excited when it's time to nurse.  She's becoming a more efficient eater, nursing for about 2.5 to 3.5 hours a day.  We've tried introducing the bottle over the past week, but she's not a fan.  She'll have to work on this over the next few weeks so she's ready for me to go back to work.

Play/ Milestones: Matilda is a squirmer and loves to lift up her head and move it back and forth when you're holding her.  She's pretty strong and has good neck control.  She has some quiet awake time where she'll look around, but she can be pretty fussy and high need when she doesn't know what she wants.  She likes to be walked around and talked to.  I'm looking forward to when she'll be entertained by toys and do more than eat, sleep, poop, and cry. 

Hip Dysplasia/ Leg Update:  After being in the harness for two weeks, we had a checkup with the orthopedic surgeon.  We expressed concerns that it didn't seem like she had been moving her left leg much, so he said it would be best if we discontinued use of the harness for awhile and met with a neurologist to assess possible nerve damage.  Matilda can move her ankle and toes, but she doesn't extend her leg at all.  We had a quick x-ray done to rule out broken bones.  The neurologist thinks that the leg probably has nerve damage, and has ordered appointments for an MRI of the leg/ hip area and EMG to diagnose the issue.  If those tests don't confirm the nerve damage, then we'll have to move on to an MRI of the brain to see if brain damage is causing the paralysis.  The neurologist didn't think that brain damage is causing the issue since Matilda seems to have regular use of the rest of the left side of her body.

In the meantime, we're suppose to start going to physical therapy twice a week.  It's a bit complicated since the treatment for nerve damage is to continue to move the leg, and the treatment for hip dysplasia is to keep the leg fixed in the froggy position. 

Since the issues aren't completely diagnosed yet, our pediatrician told us to just focus on things we can control at this point, like her eating and sleeping habits.  However, it's still hard not to worry about her leg and everything that we might be faced with (months of physical therapy, all the diagnostic tests, possible surgeries, harness/ casts, etc.)  I know there are much worse conditions out there, but it still sucks that she's going through this.  At this point, all we can do is hope for the best and have trust that it will all work out.