Carter saw his pulmonologist today and they said he no longer needed his apnea monitor!!! Yay! No more loud alarms in the night! He had several alarms this past 2 weeks, but they were all false. And they said he should be growing out of his "periodic breathing", which is common in preemies, where they have periodic pauses. A pause of longer than 20 seconds is considered apnea. He hasn't had any of those in a while. His little face looks fatter every day! He is now up to 8 lbs, 5 oz. Growing like a weed. At his last pediatrician check-up, he was in the 25th percentile for his weight. He is now in the 50th percentile! We are so thankful for his progress.
When he was still in the NICU, he developed a small pink spot on his forehead. The nurses called it a "storkbite", or birthmark, and said it would likely go away. Well, It didn't. It is now referred to as a hemangioma. It is a collection of blood vessels close to the skin. The pediatrician said it was common in preemies, and most of them reduce in size or totally go away by the time the child is 18 mos-2 yrs old. Carter's is about as big around as a nickel, and raised maybe 1/4". We asked about just having it removed, but the doctor said if you do that now, he will have a permanent scar. If we wait and it goes away on its own, there will be no scar. So we will wait and see. It doesn't seem to bother him, or hurt or anything.
So, all in all, a great report today!!
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