03/05/10 Update

March 5, 2010 by Jen.

There aren’t many things to report these days. Juliana is doing great in her new environment–home! She hit the 7 lb. mark on Thursday of this week, and she continues to love eating. We are slowly fazing out the Preemie clothing. It’s amazing to see her arms, legs, and (as many of you have already commented) cheeks getting chubby. It was hard to imagine her reaching this point, but she is starting to maintain actual baby fat!

I’m not sure if we’ve mentioned this on the blog before, but Juliana was born with a hemangioma underneath her left ear. This is a buildup of abnormal blood vessel growth that is quite common (occurring in approximately 10 percent of Caucasians) and often resolves itself. Apparently they are more common in premature babies and also in identical twins (which she is) than in other babies. Hers is between a nickel and a quarter in size. I was actually born with one in my eyelid which was surgically removed when I was 5 years old. The doctors believe that Juliana’s will go away on its own, but it has been giving us some problems recently. It is in an awkward location for the placement of her car seat strap, and it rubs on her clothes as well. As a result, it has broken open and bled a couple of times. She is currently taking antibiotics to keep it from becoming infected, and we have been referred to the pediatric dermatologist at Johns Hopkins, who is apparently the best.

Apart from this minor issue, Juliana is thriving and very happy. She likes to keep us up at night, particularly between midnight and 3 am, but she is generally a very sweet, content baby. It is wonderful to be home, and we are so blessed!

Grandpa and Grandma Minner are visiting this weekend, and they are enjoying snuggling with her as well. We hope you all are doing well. Thanks for your continued encouraging words and support.

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