A Pediatrician

It is hard to believe that Charlie has been home for a week!

Today, he met his pediatrician for the first time. Not a neonatologist, not a surgeon, not a cardiologist, not an anesthesiologist - a pediatrician. You know, the doctor that 'normal' babies go see...

After a long and detailed recap of Charlie's first three weeks, Dr. Herman gave Charlie a once over. Turns out that our little man is still thriving despite all his early setbacks. He was in the 85% for height and 60% for weight (which is particularly impressive when you consider her didn't eat for the first 12 days of life). We are going to continue doing some weight checks along the way to monitor his growth. Because of the anatomy of his heart, Charlie burns more calories than the average baby so his caloric intake is vital.

Dr. Herman is submitting the paperwork for Charlie to get the RSV shots. The shots are monthly and cost $1200 per dose. Insurance companies notoriously don't like paying for the shots so say some prayers that our insurance will cover the shots for Charlie. He really cannot afford to get RSV with his oxygen saturations only being in the lower 80's on a regular basis.

Charlie's only bump in the road today was being diagnosed with thrush. He started medication today to clear it up. I've been on an anti fungal since Tuesday so with both of us being treated we are hoping to get past this quickly.

On the other hand, this mama is a little worse for the wear... After waking up from an afternoon nap with the chills and 102* fever, I've been diagnosed with mastitis. So now I'm on an antibiotic to clear up that infection. The plan is to sleep as much as possible, pump as much as possible and take my medicine so that I can get back to taking care of my baby....