Tristan’s Birth was Associated with Signs of His Early Struggles
The early struggles of Tristan were not evident at first, but clues were present even before, during, and shortly after his birth.
February 15, 2007
Tristan is already two months old and I can not believe it. Michael and I are making it, but it has been hard. Tristan is starting to sleep better at night thank the Lord, but lately he has been very gassy. I am going to try cutting out dairy and see if this helps any. Tristan is now 7 lbs 4.6 ounces 19 3/4 inches long and his head is 37.5 in circumference. His doctor is very pleased with his weight gain since he was a slow starter at packing on the ounces at first.
Tristan has started cooing and is trying to smile, but I think mostly it is gas. He is definitely tracking stuff in the room if close enough and loves to play on his play mat everyday. His next doctor’s appointment is in the middle of April so I will not know anymore details about his low weight until then.
March 2, 2007
Well for the past two days all Tristan has done is scream! So, today we took him to the doctor to make sure he did not have anything wrong with him, and he was given a clean bill of health. I guess he is just fussy and gassy. The GREAT news is Tristan has gained a pound in two weeks! He weighed 7 lbs 4.6 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long on his last visit. Today he weighed 8 lbs 3.6 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches long. At least we know he is gaining now.
April 15, 2007
Tristan is four-months-old and weighs 10 lbs 4.8 oz. Yes it took him four months to double his birth weight of 5 lbs 2.2 oz., but at least he has done it finally. He is also taller at 22 1/2 inches long. It feels like yesterday we brought him home from the hospital, and now he is smiling, giggling, almost rolling over, holding his head up on his own, and grabbing onto objects. He has the sweetest personality, and thankfully he is becoming a great sleeper. We are now down to one night feeding at around 2 am, and he is napping in his own crib without too much fuss. He is growing up and we love each and every moment of it.
May 3, 2007
Tristan is growing up on us and getting stronger everyday despite his early struggles. He now giggles and sleeps really well throughout the night. Tristan has learned to roll over, talks all the time, sings when you sing, and is probably 13 or 14 pounds. We won’t know until June 18th when we go to his six month check up how much he really weighs. He has a rash it looks like on his right shin. I think his socks could have been too tight.
June 22, 2007
It is hard to believe Tristan is already six months old. I feel like it was yesterday I found out I was pregnant, and now he is half-way through his first year of life. This past month saw many milestones for Tristan and his parents. Tristan said his first two words Bah and Gah, among many other babbles. He loves to sing along with me and talks all the time to his daddy. He started solid food about two weeks ago and LOVES it. Tristan currently works on green beans, but plans to start carrots today. He is a real fan of peas, but does like his rice cereal also. He can also roll from his back to his stomach, and then back without too much trouble. Tristan tries to scoot around on the floor to objects he wants, but this is a slow process. Our baby is growing up!
Tristan’s early struggles continued. At his sixth month appointment he finally hit the 3rd percentile in height and weight, and is between the 25% and 50% for his head circumference. His doctor said it is normal for low birth weight babies’ heads to catch up first. Tristan weighted in at 12 lbs 10.6 oz. and is 24 inches long. We hoped for 13 or 14 pounds, but such is life. I know Tristan will catch up at some point in his life, and be a strong young man.
The rash was still on his shin despite changing to different types of socks. The doctor looked at it and said it was normal and just a hemangioma that was normal and would go away on its own. Being a veterinarian, Michael does not believe it is a hemangioma. He says the human doctor is full of it, and he is going to get Tristan a referral to a dermatologist.
July 18, 2007
Today we were finally able to get Tristan into a pediatric dermatologist to examine the different skin bumps and marks he has. They started coming on about 4 months of age and have kept appearing. It first appeared on his shin. Some now are very large and some a small. They cover much of his lower tummy, and the newest ones are on his right hand. The dermatologist did not know what they were so lots of pictures were taken, and they also took a biopsy of one of the spots. It was a little nerve-wracking because it was something they had not really seen before or even knew what it was.
There were about 8 or 9 people in the room touching and looking at Tristan, almost excitedly. The pathology report should be back in a week, and Michael and I hope it gives us an answer. We pray it is nothing serious, and it can be treated as one spot has now appeared on his face it seems. I will keep you all updated.
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