Let me start out by saying that Penelope is the perfect baby. I mean that. I have never had it so easy. I wake up once in the night, and not because Penelope is awake, but just to pump, and place milk in her feeding pump. She sleeps from 1030pm-11am and continues to nap very well all throughout the afternoon. Penelope's wake time is from 5-1030 in the evenings, with short 10 minute cat naps 1-2 times during that time.
Penelope started smiling (smirking more like) at 11 weeks (7 weeks adjusted) She smiles through her eyes mostly. She is a content baby. She likes quiet, and can be very sensitive to cold, and startles easily. She still has the moro reflex very strong. Penelope is not a fan of baths, or being undressed.
Penelope still eats 95% of her food through her feeding tube. She likes to nurse 1-2 times a day and only in the evenings. Most times she latches, and then bites down, or will chew suck, but there are those times she will really nurse. Penelope has a strong gag reflex, and is not used to things in her mouth. She is no longer used to the bottle tries that she had in the hospital, and will not even try it now. Penelope has a vomiting issue, and chokes when she vomits. She stops breathing afterward seemingly as to not get it into her lungs. Its pretty scary. This happens from 1-3 times a day usually. I live in fear that I won't be in the room when it happens, and she won't be able to get it together after an episode. We are going to take her in to do a contrasted swallow study, and an upper gi study to try to figure out what might be happening when she does swallow.
This week is the week we have been waiting for. Penelope has her appointment with a geneticist at Stanford. We hope to learn more about what UPD20 is, and what to expect. I am not hopeful that we will walk away knowing much about it, because it is rare, and therefor there isn't enough cases to compare it to. Also everyone manifests different. This past week I took Penelope down to get her blood drawn for another chromosome test. They had a hard time finding her veins. She is so little! She now weighs 7lbs 14oz at almost 13 weeks old.
I think that Penelope has some features like mine when I was a baby. Everyone who sees her immediately says she looks like her Daddy. I by no means think we look like twins, but I do see small similarities. It's so fun to see what/who they look like. Chloe looked just like Adam's baby pictures, but looks more like me as a little girl. Piper looks NOTHING like Adam or I, and so far I can see each of us in Penelope.
