Alexandra: Happy 3 Month Birthday, Alexandra!

Clinical Updates

Breathing

So Thursday was the 2-week mark of Alexandra's 2-week "test" to see if certain things would help her avoid another major surgery, or if those things would indicate she needs that surgery. Thursday came and went, and for now, we are NOT inclined to proceed with the surgery. In fact, her lung specialist seemed to be less convinced on Thursday that Alexandra would get any benefit. So we'll keep on doing what we've been doing for 2 weeks and hopefully she "outgrows" the lung problems on her own...

How She Looks

Getting away from the technicalities of x-rays, blood gases, CPAP settings and other things, we thought we'd share how she's been looking. We don't mean the stuff you see in the pictures (see below). We mean, how we see her progressing as her parents.

Alexandra has been looking really good to us, especially over the last few days. Her expressions don't show a look of concern, which is something she often did in the past. Her eyes have been much more focused on people than ever. She still gags and coughs, but again, it's not as common as she used to. In fact, she still coughed up her feeding tube tonight. Also, she has been starting to coo more consistently (especially after she sneezes; you'll have to ask her why that is).

Weight

Everyone always mentions how "full" or "healthy" she looks. Indeed she does look healthy... Actually, she was doing so well with her weight that we had to cut back her calories by about 15%. Is this her first diet? Not sure if I'd call it that, but you make the call...

Thoughts for others

One of of Alexandra's little buddies is undergoing a pretty major surgery tomorrow. So for those of you who are into prayer, candle lighting, positive energy or whatever, consider that child. Out of respect for privacy, I don't want to give away too much more than that...