Corn Fed Kansan: Growing like A Weed

Lorena is out of preemie diapers and clothes and into her newborn sizes! Some of the newborn stuff is still plenty big on Lorena, but she will fill out soon. She is growing like a weed which was pretty easy to do this year in Kansas. As most of you know, Kansas and most of the midwest was (and still is) in a major drought in 2012. We had little rainfall, scorching temperatures, and average to poor yields for our crops. It is very difficult to control weeds in a drought year because herbicides don't work as well when there is no rain. Many people get confused on how to pronounces Lorena's name. It is pronounced Lo-ray-na...the middle sylable sounds like "rain" Just remember that we had no rain the year Lorena was born and that way you will always know how to pronounce her name. :-)

I thought she had a cold on Tuesday so I kind of freaked out. The doctor said everything was fine and just told me to suction out her snot a few times a day if needed. She weiged 6 pound 1.5 ounces on Tuesday. Lorena also had her 2 month shots on Wednesday. There were many kids, toys, and germs in the Health Department when we went to get her shots so that was a new experience for me. Lorena's carseat was covered at all times but germy places have a tendency to make me very anxious now! She was a trooper and only cried for about 5 seconds after her shots. It is very important to immunize children and adults (read some of my prior posts) to keep Lorena and other babies safe this winter!

Thursday Lorena went to Topeka to her her pediatric opthamologist. She still has slight ROP in one of her eyes so we will go back in a few weeks for another checkup. She had a slight fever on Thursday from her shots but Tylenol helped that out quickly. I got to see two of the other preemie moms I met in the NICU while at the doctors office. Their babies are truly miracle babies...born 3 weeks and 5 weeks gestational age earlier than Lorena.

Lorena had a visit from the Washington County Health Department nurse on Friday afternoon. She was weighed again and was up to 6 pound 5 ounces! She has been gaining about an ounce a day since she came home. I can't believe she has been home for 2 weeks now. The days fly by but the nights have a tendency to drag. Lorena didn't sleep much during the night for about a week...we think her days and nights were mixed up. She was great for the first week home but her sleeping patterns were messed up the second week. Dan and I are just willing to try anything at this point to get some sleep at night. She would scream when we put her in her crib. We tried running a radio, fan, nightlight, swaddle, etc but nothing seemed to help. We have had her sleep in her swing (in the reclined position) for the past few nights and it seems to be working. I just hope the transition back to her crib won't be too difficult but am thankful for the hours of sleep we are getting now. She is still up every three hours to eat.

Tonight is the Linn Lutheran School Benefit Auction. It is so much fun and supports such an amazing school that Lorena will attend someday. I'm sad I will have to miss it but hopefully we can go as a family next year.