101 Posts!

Wow- and nearly as many days old... this continues to be an outlet for me and a way to remember the good, the bad, and everything in between. Since time flies, those little details are so easily forgotten!

Speaking of... after a follow up doctor's appointment last week, I finally remembered to ask about the results of my pathology report from Chase's delivery. Apparently there were factors with the placenta which were the cause of his growth being stopped/slowed which led to his "emergency" delivery. They found "multifocal infarctions" present, which was somewhat explained that it's like little scars, that I was clotting too quickly, interrupting the blood supply between him & I, thus preventing adequate nutrients from being provided. In part this makes me feel better having a tangible reason to explain it- but on the other hand, I feel frustrated- like what did I do wrong that made this condition occur, and how could I have prevented it?

In any case, this also served to remind me that on certain days when I wonder what else I can do to help Chase's progress along- with head strength, sitting up, or other milestones- I still compare him to his "birth age" rather than his adjusted age... and on top of it- he also has the "challenges" of the IUGR (Small for gestational age (SGA) babies are those whose birth weight, length, or head circumference lies below the 10th percentile for that gestational age) So not only did we face him being born at "33 week, 5 days"- but it was more along the lines of him being born closer to 30-31 weeks gestational age because of the issues with the placenta (these are the measurements from the ultrasounds, the week before/after Christmas that found him to be estimated at 30 weeks size rather than 33 weeks size). I recall feeling defensive when our NICU nurses would confirm that yes, he was more size and behaviorally matched to a 31 week-old baby, rather than a 34 week old baby, and so on. Of course I've always felt he's perfect and ahead of the curve considering, but I'm Mom :)

So... as always, I look at him, thinking, okay, he's 14+ weeks now- but if you adjust the adjusted age, we're still only about 5 weeks old! Isn't that insane??? Oh well, I say- haha- he rocks, and is getting so strong, aware, and just simply amazing. I couldn't be more blessed with these two gorgeous, fantastic children!!!