Adya Teresa Kumar's Preemie Journal: The First Year
Released from the Infant Special Care Unit, Evanston Hospital, Evanston, Illinois on June 4, 2002 after 12 weks and 3 days.
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The Preemie Journal
Last updated: Tuesday 03/11/2003
Adya's weight (in pounds) chart
05/23/03
Adya weighs 22 pounds and 2 oz now. Adya can now walk very confidently and can point to objects, parts of her body and people. She is 31 1/4" tall.
03/15/03
Adya weighs 20 pounds now.
2/26/03
Adya can now crawl, cruise and speak a few words like da-da, pa-pa, ba-ba and ta-ta.
02/20/03
Adya had her developmental clinic (Evanston Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Developmental Follow-up Clinic) appointment today. The doctors (DJoanne Bregman, Ph.D, and Hilde Hutchins, P.T. and Nora Manago, Developmental Learning Specialist) were very happy to see her progress. Everything looks pretty normal. Adya weighed 19 lbs today. Here is a summary of the report:
Language/Communication Skills -- Receptive: Age level: 12 months. Alert and responsive to sounds in the environment; understands specific words; shows joint attention; object constancy developing.
Language/Communication Skills -- Expressive: Age level: 10-11 months. Babbling; combining sounds to make syllables; communicates non-verbally with gestures and other non-verbal behaviors; imitates action.
Motor: Fine motor skills: Age level 10 months. Reaches with either hand; transfers hand to hand; holds 2 objects simultaneously; releases objects into a containe.
Motor: Gross motor skills: Age level 10 months. Adya is sitting. Now she is crawling, cruising
Overall: Adya is doing very well. Overall development is between her adjusted and her chronological ages. She is developing language and imitative skills.
2/13/03
Adya weighed 18 lbs 8 ozs today.
1/16/03
Adya's first tooth came out today.
1/13/03
Adya weighed 17 lbs 9 ozs today.
12/15/02
Today, Adya had her Hindu ritual of 'Mundan Sanskara' at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago.
12/13/02
Today, Adya got another dose of Synagis. She weighed 16 lbs and 8 ozs..
11/28/02
Adya could not sit up on her own.
11/23/02
Today, Adya had her 'Annaprashan Sankar', the Hindu ritual for starting solid food for babies. The sanskar was performed at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago.
11/13/02
Adya now weighs 15 lbs. She is able to sit on her own now. She is getting her regular shots of Synagis for RSV.
10/20/02
Adya was baptized today at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Crystal Lake, Illinois (this is the church we got married at) along with her cousin Benjamin Thomas Golko. Fr. Perfecto L. Vasquez was the presiding priest and Adya's God Parents were Paul Golko and Capt. Julia Plevnia, DDS.
10/10/02
Adya had her developmental clinic (Evanston Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Developmental Follow-up Clinic) appointment today. The doctors (Dyan, Simon, M.D., Joanne Bregman, Ph.D, and Hilde Hutchins, P.T.) were very happy to see her progress. Everything looks pretty normal. Adya weighed 13 lbs and 8 ozs today. Here is a summary of the report:
Social Communication Skills: - Adya very sociable and interactive with smiles. Reciprocal conversation emerging nicely. Auditory and visual attention are good. She has an easy temper. If upset, she is quickly soothed by her parents.
Tone and Motor Skills: Overall tone is low normal with mildly decreased tone through the upper extremities and hip.
Movement Patterms: Normal. Midline orientation present in all positions.
Developmental Concerns: No concerns at this time.
09/21/02
Adya weighed 11lbs and 9ozs on September 13. However, she was sick for past few days and according to her early diagnosis, she had bronchioliotis. She had runny nose and was coughing a little bit. It got worse on Saturday, September 14 as she stopped breathing a couple of times. We rushed to the hospital where she was tested positive for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). She was put on oxygen and stayed in the hospital for 3 nights. She came back home on September 14 and has improved quite a lot since.
08/21/02
Adya had her pediatrician's appointment today. She weighed 11 lbs.
07/19/02
Adya had her pediatrician's appointment today where she got 4 immunization shots. She weighed 8lbs and 11ozs.
07/02/02
Adya is doing quite well and is growing by day. She currently weighs 6 lbs and 10 ozs. We also noticed that she has started tracking objects and responds to music.
06/21/02
Adya is doing very well. She weighed 5 lb 12 oz (2612 gms) yesterday. Her pediatrician Dr. Charles O'Brien saw her yesterday and was very happy and satified with Adya's progress.
06/17/02
Adya now weighs 2456 gms (5 lb 4+ oz)
06/12/02 (10:05 AM)
Adya is doing quite well. She weighs 5 lbs now.
06/05/02 (11:05 AM)
Adya is home and is quite comfortable with her new surroundings.
06/04/02 (WK 12 D 3; 11:05 AM)
Today is the day we have been waiting for. Adya will be discharged from ISCU this afternoon. We are very excited. The doctors did some last minute lab work on her and she also got immunized for Hepatitis B. She weighed 2020 gms last night.
06/03/02 (WK 12 D 2; 11:55 PM)
Aya may be going home soon. Her tentative date of discharge is Tuesday June 4, 2002. We have our fingers crossed and have been praying for this moment for a long time. We hope everything goes well.
Adya has been doing quite well. She weighs 2015 gms (4.4 pounds) now and has been very good with her feedings. We spend the Saturday night with her in a private hospital room which was a good learning experience.
05/31/02 (WK 11 D 6; 12:05 PM)
Adya weighed 1925 gms last night.
05/30/02 (WK 11 D 5; 01:50 PM)
Adya weighed 1890 gms last night.
05/29/02 (WK 11 D 4; 09:15 AM)
We gave Adya a bath last night. She is scheduled for her eye exam today. She weighed 1850 gms last night.
05/28/02 (WK 11 D 3; 11:30 AM)
Adya had a very good weekend. She is almost ready to be discharged from the hospital but they have decided to keep her for a few more days as she occasionally desaturates during her feedings. In the meantime, we have been spending a lot of time with her (just the three of us) taking her to a private parent-room, doing her diapers, feeding and holding her.
She is over 4 pounds now as she currently weighs 1820 gms.
05/24/02 (WK 10 D 6; 9:15 AM)
We met with the Adya's physical therapist yesterday. According to her assessment, Adya has been doing quite well. We also met with Adya's prospective pediatrician. We liked him and he is willing to take Adya. The doctors at the hospital did hearing test on Adya and everything seems to be fine. She gained 50 gms last night and currently weighs 1775 gms.
05/23/02 (WK 10 D 5; 9:15 AM)
Adya's tentative discharge (from hospital) date has been set to Wednesday, May 29. She also passed her 'car-seat test' last night and weighed 1725 gms last night. Today, we have our appointments with the pediatrician and the physical therapist.
05/22/02 (WK 10 D 4; 9:15 AM)
Adya lost 37 gms last night (current weight 1713 gms) but it should not be a cause for any concern. Other than that, she had a pretty good day.
05/21/02 (WK 10 D 3; 10:05 AM)
We are now inching towards the big day as it is a matter of days that Adya comes home. We're a little anxious but very excited and we hope and pray that everything goes well.
Adya has been doing very well with maintaining her temperature outside of the isolette and has been pretty good with her new feeding changes. In an anticipation of Adya going home soon, we were asked by the nurse to bring in a car-seat to administer a 'car-seat test'. They will put Adya in the car-seat and monitor her breathing and heart-rate for at least an hour to make sure she can handle the drive back home without any problem.
Adya weighed 1750 gms last night.
05/20/02 (WK 10 D 2; 10:05 AM)
So far, it has been a weekend of excitements for us as well as Adya. On Friday, Agnes' uncle Stachu (mom's brother), his friend Roman (they arrived in the US from Dusseldorf, Germany on May 16) visited Adya. Other visitors included grandparents Dr. Maria Rynkowska and Dr. Peter Burbulis and aunt Nikki's aunt Marianne. We took Adya out to a parent room and where got to meet every one all at once. Her feeding was changed to two bottle-feedings followed by one NG-feeding on Friday and we also gave her a sponge bath in the evening.
On Saturday, Adya went on to an all bottle feeding schedule with unrestricted amount of milk. Ever since, she has been taking 40-45 ccs of milk per feeding.
Early Sunday morning, at about 3:00 am, she was taken out of the isolette and was put in an open crib. So far, at the time of this update, she has been maintaining her temperature well. Her feeding schedule was changed again - from now on, she will be getting her food whenever she wants and whatever amount she wants with the gap between the two feedings not exceeding more that 4 hours. Her anti-reflux medication has also been discontinued.
She weighed 1730 gms. last night.
Things have been changing fast. We have our fingers crossed and pray that things go well.05/17/02 (WK 9 D 6; 8:24 AM)
Yesterday, we got the bathing demo (how to give her a bath) for Adya. She also gained 59 gms in the last two days. She currently weighs 1646 gms.
05/15/02 (WK 9 D 4; 9:52 AM)
Adya is scheduled for her follow up head ultrasound today. She weighed 1583 gms last night.
05/14/02 (WK 9 D 3; 8:52 AM)
A very good day for Adya. She gained 52 gms in the last 24 hours. She weighed 1552 gms last night (no, the scale was not broken). She is also getting some supplement to grow her bones.
05/13/02 (WK 9 D 2; 10:52 AM)
Adya gained about 50 gms over the weekend. She currently weighs 1504 gms. She is now getting 35 ccs of fortified breast milk every 3 hours and her every other feeding is by bottle. Starting Friday, her milk is being fortified with 22 calorie formula milk which is also used for feeding full-term babies. She has also been getting one breast feeding a day and has been doing quite well with all this. Adya is off caffeine (given to preemies to help them breathe) since Friday. As usual, she was also visited by her grandparents on Friday.
05/10/02 (WK 8 D 6; 10:13 AM)
Adya's weight gain was 15 gms last night (1455 gms). She got her immunization for DPT and Hib. She will be getting her polio and pneumococcal vaccines today. Yesterday, we took her to the parent-room for feeding in the evening.
05/09/02 (WK 8 D 5; 10:33 AM)
Adya's eye exam once again was inconclusive as her eyes are still too immature for any exam. The doctors will try again in three weeks. Adya is now on 1-1 bottle-feeding schedule and she is not getting 28 ccs of breast milk every three hours. She gained another 20 gms in the last 24 hours. She currently weighs 1440 gms. She is scheduled for her immunization today. She also got to spend some time with uncle Albert and aunt Nikki yesterday who visited her in the evening.
05/08/02 (WK 8 D 4; 9:50 AM)
Adya gained 20 gms and weighed 1420 gms last night. This means, she now weighs more than double her weight at the time of her birth (709 gms and she weighed as low as 590 gms at one point). She is on 2-1 bottle-feeding schedule now (every third feeding is bottle-feeding) but they are considering putting her on 1-1 bottle-feeding.
05/07/02 (WK 8 D 3; 10:20 AM)
Adya weighs 1400 gms today. She has been doing quite well with her bottle-feeding (twice a day) and at the same time getting better with breast-feeding (once a day). She is scheduled for her eye exam tomorrow (8 May) and for her immunization (DPT, polio and Hib) on Thursday, May 9.
05/06/02 (WK 8 D 2; 9:50 AM)
Adya had a very good weekend. During this weekend, she gained 75 gms and currently weighs 1385 (3.05 lbs) gms. As usual, she was visited by her grand parents of Friday. She was breast-fed twice during the weekend and she seems to be getting a hang of it. She has mastered bottle-feeding by now and takes two of her 8 feedings entirely by the bottle. She is also getting ready for her immunization (coming up soon this week).
05/03/02 (WK 7 D 6; 9:00 AM)
Adya weighed 1310 gms last night, a loss of 10 gms. However, this should not be a cause for concern at this time as she has been using a lot of energy in bottle-feeding. Also, her calorie intake was slashed to 24 calories per ounce of milk. She probably just needs to adjust to these changes. Yesterday, she took her entire feeding by bottle twice. We are very encouraged by this.
05/02/02 (WK 7 D 5; 10:44 AM)
Adya weighed 1320 gms last night. Her feeding has been increased to 25 ccs of fortified breast milk every three hours. She is also being bottle fed twice a day now. Yesterday evening, she took her entire feed from the bottle. We were very excited about it. Also, in anticipation for her coming home in the next 3-4 weeks, we took the infant CPR and the discharge class (on caring for premature babies when they go home) offered by the hospital.
05/01/02 (WK 7 D 4; 12:55 AM)
Adya weighed 1285 gms last night. She had a very good day yesterday and did well with her feeding too. She is still getting 23 ccs of fortified breast milk every three hours. However, her calorie intake has been cut down to 24 calories per ounce of milk (from 27). The doctors say that since she is gaining weight, she does not need the extra 3 calories as booster.
04/29/02 (WK 7 D 3; 12:55 PM)
Adya weighed 1265 gms last night. We tried bottle-feeding her again and it went quite well. She took about 8 ccs from the bottle before she got tired and exhausted. Right now, we are trying bottle-feeding her once a day. Once Adya starts taking her entire feeding, they will increase the frequency.
04/29/02 (WK 7 D 2; 10:05 AM)
Adya had a very good weekend. She has been doing quite well with her unassisted breathing and gained about 75 gms since last Friday. Today, she weighed 1240 gms. She is still on 23 cc every three hours feeding schedule. Adya's grandparents visited her on Friday. On Sunday, she got moved to a new room, the Annex, meant for more stable babies. We also tried bottle feeding her on Sunday and she took about 6-7 ccs.
04/26/02 (WK 6 D 6; 10:05 AM)
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