Hot Milk

Seems like we need a Henry update and lots of baby pics haha!

He just turned 5 months old (2 months gestational) and is a little Jumping Bean!

I LOVE the rolls / folds on his legs!!!!!! 😍 Must. Squish. Them. And his cute little belly button! Such an aware child, nothing gets past him.

His Highness’s Food

Feeding him is its own specialty sport. He’s very particular! Jer says that Baby likes “leche caliente”—and yeah, this kid will only take his milk on the very warm side. I bought a portable bottle warmer in the hopes that we can survive going to and from all of these doctor appointments haha because he would rather starve and scream at you for your insolence than ingest room temperature milk.

He has a favorite position while eating, only 2 acceptable burping positions, a minimum amount of time spent upright, etc. The feeding therapist says all these preferences are a possible start to oral aversion, but to do our best.

Yummy Hands

This kid is obsessed with eating his hands. We’ve got to keep his hands away from his face with the feeding tube, which he has pulled out with one swipe, so we usually put socks on them that act as mittens. The socks ended up damp, and his hands smelled like used Band-Aids haha.

He detests having his arms restrained, so I got these special swaddles that allow him to have arms up and also vent a little better. We call it his straight jacket haha. They also work wonders for when we need to re-tape his face, and give him that comforting feeling of containment when he’s getting ready for bed.

My Velcro Baby

Baby loves to be involved in whatever I am doing. He now cries if I leave the room, so I’ve been trying to keep him with me.

Here is Roxy doggy helping me with laundry, and Henry assisting by keeping time. “It’s been 5 minutes. Hurry Mom, let’s cuddle!”

Baby Whisperer

Henry has become such a smiley boy and even laughs! Here he is with his favorite sister 😉 who is equally interested in him. Around here we call her the Baby Whisperer because when we are all out of ideas and the baby is still fussy, she takes him and then he magically falls asleep…

Little Patient

Lots of appointments lately.

Here he is at the feeding therapist getting weighed to see if he’s growing enough. I carted all his feeding stuff including a warmer and a pump and backpack.

He was struggling on the ng feeding tube, projectile vomiting pretty regularly which apparently is not normal. They’ve recommended we see a GI specialist to make sure things are ok with his gut.

He had a bottle trial for like a week and did well at first, but then tapered off not wanting the bottle by the end.

The dietician / nutritionist appointments have been the most helpful so far. We switched to straight breast milk which he did super well on, only he was on the low end of growth. Now we are trying a gentler formula to add to the milk and see if he does better with that.

He did such a good job getting X-rays! We have an appointment with the BPD Clinic tomorrow to see his pulmonologist, who requested pictures of his lungs and chest.

Lying Down

This blue blanket is super soft made by his Aunt Chalia, and it is his favorite for a reliable sleep.

Here is the set up for when I am gavaging him but need to wash some bottles at the same time.

And finally, here is the loving farewell that his brothers give him every morning going to school.

We sure love our Henry baby! ❤️❤️❤️

Until next time, Kat