Stats: No idea. We can't really take any stats while in her cast. I've heard some babies lose weight or stay the same weight in the cast, so hopefully she's still gaining weight. I worry since she's already barely hanging on to the lowest growth curve, but I guess there's not much we can do other than encourage her to keep eating. She's mostly wearing 6 and 9 month dresses over the cast.
Sleep: Ugh... I don't even want to talk about sleep. Since she's been in the cast, sleep has been terrible. We can't tell if we're dealing with cast issues, 4 month sleep regression, or a combination of both, but nights are killing us. She's been waking up about 8 times a night. I think she set a record at 16 times the other night. Since it doesn't really matter what we do, she's been sleeping in her crib in her room. The mattress is propped up at an angle and we use pillows and rolled up blankets to try to keep her comfortable. We each take 2-hour shifts taking care of her, so the other one can try to get some sleep. We're also testing out leaving her hands un-swaddled, but it doesn't seem to help.
She's started self soothing by sucking her bottom lip. We noticed she started doing it a few days before her procedure, and I think it helped her manage some of the post-op pain. She mostly does it when she's bored or tired.
She's started self soothing by sucking her bottom lip. We noticed she started doing it a few days before her procedure, and I think it helped her manage some of the post-op pain. She mostly does it when she's bored or tired.
Eat: Not too much to report here. She had a really hard time eating anything the week after her procedure, but she's doing ok now. I don't think her appetite is as hearty as it was pre-cast. She's probably eating about 80-85% as much as she did. We haven't tried solids yet although we gave her a taste of banana the other day. I also started donating my frozen milk stash to the Mothers' Milk Bank at Austin, since it's unlikely that we'll use it before the 6-month expiration mark.
Play/ Milestones: Matilda has started to laugh this month. It started with a few short laughs here and there, but Jason got a good two minute long giggle fest out of her the other day. Mostly she just smiles real big, sticks out her tongue, and cackles when she's excited. She also went two weeks perfecting her raspberries and all we heard out of her was "aaa-booooo" over and over and over again.
Matilda loves getting out and about. Jason's taken her to the grocery store, museum, and we took her to the Galleria with us to go mattress shopping. She loves facing out in the Ergo 360, but we can easily flip her around when she needs to take a nap.
When she's at the house, she still enjoys sitting outside or looking out the window, playing with her toy bar, listening to music, and reading books. She's started to reach out to pet the dog, and she enjoys playing peek-a-boo as well. She loves any games with movement like riding the horsey, leaning backwards, or when we pick her up and dance with her. The crazier the movements, the more she likes them.
Hip Dysplasia/ Leg Update: No update since her procedure. She goes in for a 3-week post-op checkup on Friday so maybe we'll have an update then. I'm not sure how often they'll take x-rays, but I hope they do it a few times so we can make sure her leg has stayed in the socket.
Other than the sleep issues, the cast hasn't been that bad. We're trying to keep things as normal as possible, although I am still a bit conscientious when we go out into public because most people assume she was injured. I rather people ask what happened rather than assume that she hurt herself or we hurt her. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get over it. She's been a trooper and we've all adapted pretty well to it.
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