A long overdue Isaac update

Dear all,

Sorry I haven't posted an update on Isaac for a while. I was feeling so sad about Emily, Jennifer and Tony all weekend. Please continue to pray for Jennifer and Tony. What they have gone through is harder than most of us can imagine and we really need to continue to lift them up to the Lord.

I took Isaac to St. Luke's today for his second in-hospital check up with Dr. Kusakawa. This might seem very infrequent for people outside of Japan but we have had a nurse visit us at home every 2 weeks since our last in-hospital check up in early November. We have also been to the international clinic to see Dr. Che twice since November (and we are going again next week so its basically been monthly so far) as Isaac is getting his vaccination shots, other than his Synargis/Anti RS Virus shots, at the international clinic. However, since Dr. Kusakawa is Isaac's primary doctor prescribing him the oxygen, it was definitely good to see him to ask him some questions about Isaac's oxygen.

In any case, Isaac is basically doing pretty well. He is still way below the normal range in respect of weight and height for his adjusted age. But he is gaining weight steadily. He is also growing in height but at a slower rate than his weight gain. Dr. Kusakawa said that the need for supplemental oxygen will depend on Isaac's growth. So it looks like there must be a target weight before Isaac can start be weaned off of oxygen. Brilliant me of course forgot to ask what the target was when I was there but Dr. Kusakawa did say that he thought Isaac may be coming off of oxygen in April or May. He clarified that we only need to keep his oxygen saturation levels at 90% or above during the daytime/his active time but we should keep his sats at 95% or above at night time. So we will continue to give Isaac 0.5 liter/min at night but we can try taking him off of oxygen for part of the day now as he can get above 90% on his own at times. We are thinking that we can try taking off his oxygen off in the mornings when he usually has more energy. He usually starts getting more and more tired in the afternoons. We will see how that goes.

Oh just for the record, these are some of Isaac's measurements for your comparison:

1/10/07 - weight 5.34 kg (11.77 lbs); height 57.7 cm (22.7 inches)
11/06/06 - weight 3.555 kg (7.84 lbs); height 50.5 cm (19.9 inches)
10/7/06 (when he was discharged from Toho) - weight 2.75 kg (6.06 lbs); height 45.6 cm (17.95 inches)

Isaac seems to be doing okay developmentally but he still doesn't turn over. He can easily turn to his sides but he hasn't done the complete front to back or back to front turn yet. Dr. Kusakawa said Isaac basically has a bit less than a month to hit that milestone on target before he is considered to be falling behind. So we are hoping that he will get there real soon. Other than that he his head control is pretty good now. He can also sit up for short periods of time with his arms out in front of him to hold himself up. He doesn't like that position much as he is crouched over and will complain about it very quickly. He also gets very easily distracted when put on his tummy these days. He will see his hands and move his head down to nibble on his own knuckles.

One thing that always surprises me as I don't see other babies that often (very few babies in Tokyo and I don't go out much anymore) is that I forget how loud normal babies are. Our Isaac is still so quiet. He still isn't very vocal although he is much more vocal than a month ago. And he just can't get very loud because of his small lungs. He is also a very good baby and doesn't cry very much. When we were waiting for our turn at the hospital, Remy and I kept looking at each other in wonder - amazed by how loud all the other babies were crying. And they cried and cried and cried. When Isaac got his Synargis shot, he turned red, cried a bit, but once I picked him back up and the temporary pain from the shot was gone, he was back to his happy old goofy self.

In any case, my eyes are getting real heavy now so I will sign off for tonight. Before I go though I will post some pictures. Isaac looked extra cute today as he wore this hand-knitted beret we got from a friend's MIL. I forgot to charge the camera so I couldn't take any pictures at the hospital but I took some once we got home before we changed him out of the street clothes. Um, I am not sure why Isaac looked so surprised in the pictures. But he tends to look surprised at the camera. Actually, Remy was doing something to catch his attention so I guess that's why he looked so surprised. LOL.
God bless,

Sonia