Juliet's First Doctor Visit

When Juliet was born at 37 weeks and 4 days into the pregnancy, she weighed 7 pounds and 5.5 ounces and was 19 inches long. She scored 9 and 9 on the Apgar test (not sure what the 1 was that she missed). The only issue that was noticed at birth was with her right foot. Apparently, in utero her foot was being smushed so it was turned out nearly 90 degrees when she came out. The twisted foot is most noticeable in this picture immediately after birth:

The neonatal doctor immediately pointed the foot out to Keith as she was being cleaned up while still in the OR, and I could hear a little bit of the conversation going on from the table, but I couldn't hear the details. He told Keith that the foot should work itself out over time.

After 2 days in the hospital, Juliet's bilirubin levels were tested for jaundice. When reading about the risk factors for it, 2 of them are having siblings who were jaundiced (both Annabelle and Corgan were) and being breastfed. The earlier that they are born, the higher the risk is as well. Mainly because of her older brother and sister having it, I fully expected Juliet to be jaundiced too and sleeping with the glowing blanket for a little while. I was very pleasantly surprised when the neonatal doctor told me that although she was near the level for being considered jaundiced, she was still below it and therefore didn't have it. Because she wasn't eating a lot or pooping a lot during the next 24 hours in the hospital, they decided to test her again before we left. She was still just below the unsafe level, but because she was so close to it, they wanted us to schedule her one week checkup at 6 days so that she could be looked at again.

Another potential issue that came up before we left the hospital was Juliet's weight. The morning that we were preparing to leave (on the 3rd day), they weighed her and she was down to 6 pounds and 10 ounces. Although this isn't generally an unsafe weight, she had lost nearly 10% of her body weight (if she had been 6 pounds and 9 ounces, she would have been over the 10% mark and he would have made her stay in the hospital), so they were a little concerned. When I told him that my milk had just started coming in overnight, the neonatologist felt a little better about it, but again, wanted me to really make sure to take her in for her checkup early so that our pediatrician could monitor her weight sooner rather than later.

So... this morning, we took Juliet in for her one week checkup at 6 days, and everything went really well. Her weight is 6 pounds and 10.5 ounces, which the doctor was happy with. Even though she had only gained an ounce, she hadn't lost anything so he wasn't concerned. He did say that we might want to supplement breastfeeding with an ounce or so of formula every once in a while just to get her a few extra calories. He also said that her coloring and alertness looked really good, so he wasn't concerned about jaundice either. More good news! He looked at her right foot and was impressed with how much it has straightened out already. He told us that at around 6 months, if it hasn't fully fixed itself, then we would look into doing a series of casts that would straighten out the bones as they grow. He stressed though that it should take care of itself and we probably won't have to worry about that. Hopefully he's right! :)

Juliet was a good girl and opened her eyes for the doctor to check them out:

First doctor's appointment weigh-in: