The Good and the Bad

Because Sara has been slow to gain weight, we had to go in Wednesday for a weight check. The news was good and bad.

The good news is, she gained weight like a champ (even more than average)! She weighed 5lb 13.5oz last time, and that was 13 days before, so she needed to gain between 6.5 oz (1/2 oz/day) and 13 oz (1 oz/day). She actually gained more than an ounce per day -- 15 oz total! Ha :-) I'm so glad we didn't go ahead with the formula supplementation like he wanted us to. So, she's almost 7 lbs now (funny to think she's still smaller than I expected her to be at birth!!), and she also grew 1.5 inches.

The bad news is that I noticed a bulge in her groin area a couple of weeks ago, a soft bump that sticks out when she cries. When she's lying still, you can't see it. Anyway, I asked him about it, and he said it was an inguinal hernia and will require surgery. :-( I can't stand the thought of her getting put under and cut on, but if we don't do it, her intestines could get caught in the hole and "die" from lack of blood flow. She also has an umbilical hernia, which we already knew, and doesn't require surgery, but he said that they would probably fix it while they were there anyway, even though it would heal on its own in a year or so. It's not an emergency he said, I just have to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't show signs of strangulation (when the intestines get caught). He gave me the name of a surgeon in the area who does these, so I'm going to go ahead and take her for an initial visit, even if we put off surgery for a few months (the pediatrician said it probably wouldn't be necessary before 6 months, and maybe even later). Poor baby Sara!! At least it's fixable though (not a tumor or something like I feared!), and surprisingly common (about 1 in 20 babies have them). And it doesn't hurt her as far as I can tell, so that's good. I'm just not looking forward to the recovery!