Confirmation of a Miracle

The process of trying to figure out what went wrong with Ania's pregnancy has begun. She met with her perinatologist yesterday to review her case. The doctor offered up some information that put a wrap on what we already knew: Colin is truly a miracle child. Not his words, but they could have been. The survival rate and good quality of life for children that do make it under these specific circumstances is very low. In this particular doctor's case, Colin is just the third baby he's seen born under these circumstances after many years of practice in Charlotte. One didn't make it. One did but is very young and the long-term prognosis is unknown. And then there's Colin, who is doing fantastic to this point. He still has hurdles to overcome, including the possible risk of developing cerebral palsy, but what an amazing, surprising start for him. We learned that not only did Colin have absent end-diastolic flow of the umbilical artery (which we knew), he had it of the aortic artery too (new info to us). When this is coupled with the excessive amount of fibrosis that was in the placenta, further worsening his chances at growth and development, it is a wonder that he is in as good of shape as he is. This kid had a will to live. It's that simple.
Speaking of that kid, his chunk continues to develop. He's knocking on the door of 4.5 pounds, and he's starting to do better with his bottle feeding. Clearly more comfortable, he no longer is arching back and crying as he eats. He started to do better with Zantac, but was switched to Prevacid due to it's once a day dosing and possible increased effectiveness. I don't care how we do it, I'm just glad he's more comfortable.
Colin will be in the hospital a little longer than we anticipated. This because his hernia surgery was rescheduled to March 3. If all goes well, we can expect him home soon after that. We're getting close!