The Six Month Retrospective

Tomorrow marks six months since M&M's birth, and we thought it might be interesting to take a look back at all their progress. I'm going to start from the most recent photos and work back in roughly two week increments. Just a heads-up: some of the early photos are a bit scary. Still, it's amazing to see how far they've come! For those of you NICU parents with micro-preemies, I hope this gives you some hope about just what is possible.

Milo - aka "Stiles 1" or "Baby A"

Taken yesterday, December 13, 2008. As of December 12, Milo was 10 lbs, 14 ozs -- roughly 9 pounds over his birth weight.

Milo came home October, 17. I took the shot above on the 23rd.

Less than a couple weeks before, he still used a gavage tube for feeding and (apparently) he wasn't very happy about it.

Milo was on a nasal cannula on August 15, when I took the above shot.

Above: July 28 - Milo is intubated to prepare for his PDA surgery.

Above: July 19 - Milo on Si-PAP.

Milo struggles his way into the world at 25 weeks, 2 days gestation. He weighed 2 lbs and was 13.5 inches long. The shot above was taken a day or two after his birth on June 15, 2008.

I won't list here all the complications and challenges that Milo faced (feel free to review the early blog entries), suffice to say the little boy pushed through an awful lot. To look at him now, you'd never know.

Maddy - aka "Stiles 2" or "Baby B"

Above: Taken December 13, 2008, shortly after our return from our (semi) daily walk. On December 12, Maddy weighed in at 11 lbs 14 ozs -- a full pound bigger than Milo! She has gained 10 lbs since birth.

Maddy proudly sports the tulip hat Aunt Heather gave her. Shot above taken on October 23.

Maddy rests during her first week at home. She was discharged from the NICU on October 4th. The above shot was taken a few days later.

Above: "Roar." Maddy does her best convincing dragon impression. Picture taken August 31 during Maddy's weigh-in.

Above: "What the heck is that thing?" Maddy notices something attached to her wrist. Picture taken July 29. Poor Maddy's nose was all smooshed from the Si-PAP (see just below); it's rebounded nicely since then.

Above: Maddy recovers from her PDA ligation. She was the very first baby at Alta Bates to receive the procedure at the bed side. Picture taken July 4th.

Scary small. Maddy fights her way into the world at 1 lb 14 ozs, and believe it or not that's pretty big for a 25 weeker. Many preemies born that early are around 1/3 to 1/2 a pound lighter than that. I took this shot just a day or two after her birth.

As with Milo, I'm not going to list all the challenges Maddy faced, but suffice to say, the little girl's got moxie. Little known fact: Moxie was very nearly Maddy's middle name but we chickened out. Could there be a name change coming?

Obviously the kids have made much progress in the last six months and much more to come. Stay tuned! Tomorrow (or the day after) we'll post their growth pictures with Mr. Bear.