cherishing every detail we get about Zoe Amanda {and we received many new details last night!}
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When you give birth to a child, you document every moment. The first breaths. The first outfit. The first bath. The first yawns. The first coos. The first smiles. And even some of the first cries.
We've planned to adopt since before we got married, but I didn't realize until the past month how odd it would feel to miss those firsts. What we will celebrate as her first Halloween, Christmas, New Year (ours and the Chinese one), Valentine's Day, and St. Patrick's Day will actually be her second. I'm not saddened by this, and given that we had planned to adopt an older child, we expected to miss more than just the firsts of some things. But still... it just feels, well, weird.
So when we get new morsels of information about her life, I gobble them up. I savor them. I usually hold on to the pictures and videos of her for a day or two before I share them outside of our family. I want time to cherish them before I pass them along.
Last night I hit the jackpot. Our adoption facilitator sent me answers to many questions about Zoe Amanda that we've had since we accepted her referral. I already shared with you that Zoe Amanda has some areas of brain damage called PVL and will likely be diagnosed with cerebral palsy once she arrives home. Before we accepted her referral, we knew that and had copies of her MRIs, and we also knew she was a preemie.
And here's what we know now...
She was 2 pounds and 15 ounces when she was born on October 24, and she was 14.5 inches long. The doctor estimated that her mother was 30 or 31 weeks along in the pregnancy, but he didn't know for sure because she received no prenatal care, having hidden the pregnancy from everyone. Zoe was breathing on her own, though she was given oxygen as a precautionary measure until they determined that her lungs were working fine without help. She stayed in the hospital for three weeks to gain weight before she was discharged, but she was doing so well that she wasn't in the NICU. She maintained body temperature well on her own and never needed to be in an incubator.
In less than three months - 12.5 weeks later, to be precise - her weight had increased to 9 pounds and 15 ounces and her height to 20 inches. Amazing growth in such a short time! She will begin therapy this week, but she is cooing and smiling and doing all the typical baby things you would expect for a baby with her adjusted age.
We also hear that she can have a bit of an attitude when she doesn't get her way. For example, yesterday the director of the ministry over there took some video of Zoe "talking" and then played it back for her on the phone; our baby girl got excited and cooed back at herself, but when the phone was taken away, she let out a screech and stuck her bottom lip out. (Genetics might not link her to her big sister, but it looks like the temperament might!)
In addition to cerebral palsy, she could also end up with a diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome, based on the history shared with us. However, her face doesn't show any of the three craniofacial indicators for that, so we'll wait and see. The exposure was definitely there in high enough quantities for her to be affected.
We learned other details about her background that I can't share due to confidentiality for her birth parents - both teenagers - but I can tell you this: I love that I'll be able to tell her stories about her birth, even though we weren't there. And we're also thankful that we chose to keep her Chinese name as a second middle name, because her maternal grandfather chose that name for her.
Oh, and one of the most encouraging tidbits?
"Sleeps well."
Praying that's true! :)
We've planned to adopt since before we got married, but I didn't realize until the past month how odd it would feel to miss those firsts. What we will celebrate as her first Halloween, Christmas, New Year (ours and the Chinese one), Valentine's Day, and St. Patrick's Day will actually be her second. I'm not saddened by this, and given that we had planned to adopt an older child, we expected to miss more than just the firsts of some things. But still... it just feels, well, weird.
So when we get new morsels of information about her life, I gobble them up. I savor them. I usually hold on to the pictures and videos of her for a day or two before I share them outside of our family. I want time to cherish them before I pass them along.
Last night I hit the jackpot. Our adoption facilitator sent me answers to many questions about Zoe Amanda that we've had since we accepted her referral. I already shared with you that Zoe Amanda has some areas of brain damage called PVL and will likely be diagnosed with cerebral palsy once she arrives home. Before we accepted her referral, we knew that and had copies of her MRIs, and we also knew she was a preemie.
And here's what we know now...
She was 2 pounds and 15 ounces when she was born on October 24, and she was 14.5 inches long. The doctor estimated that her mother was 30 or 31 weeks along in the pregnancy, but he didn't know for sure because she received no prenatal care, having hidden the pregnancy from everyone. Zoe was breathing on her own, though she was given oxygen as a precautionary measure until they determined that her lungs were working fine without help. She stayed in the hospital for three weeks to gain weight before she was discharged, but she was doing so well that she wasn't in the NICU. She maintained body temperature well on her own and never needed to be in an incubator.
In less than three months - 12.5 weeks later, to be precise - her weight had increased to 9 pounds and 15 ounces and her height to 20 inches. Amazing growth in such a short time! She will begin therapy this week, but she is cooing and smiling and doing all the typical baby things you would expect for a baby with her adjusted age.
We also hear that she can have a bit of an attitude when she doesn't get her way. For example, yesterday the director of the ministry over there took some video of Zoe "talking" and then played it back for her on the phone; our baby girl got excited and cooed back at herself, but when the phone was taken away, she let out a screech and stuck her bottom lip out. (Genetics might not link her to her big sister, but it looks like the temperament might!)
In addition to cerebral palsy, she could also end up with a diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome, based on the history shared with us. However, her face doesn't show any of the three craniofacial indicators for that, so we'll wait and see. The exposure was definitely there in high enough quantities for her to be affected.
We learned other details about her background that I can't share due to confidentiality for her birth parents - both teenagers - but I can tell you this: I love that I'll be able to tell her stories about her birth, even though we weren't there. And we're also thankful that we chose to keep her Chinese name as a second middle name, because her maternal grandfather chose that name for her.
Oh, and one of the most encouraging tidbits?
"Sleeps well."
Praying that's true! :)