The lungs are healing!

December has started out on a good note. Let's hope we can keep it going! Since Charlotte has been home from the hospital, she has been doing really well! She is 14 lbs now and gaining weight really well. We had a follow up with her GI doctor, and she is really impressed about how well Charlotte is doing with the tube placed back in her stomach. Because Charlotte is continuously fed for 24 hours, she has an overgrowth of bacteria in her belly due to the high PH level, and so the GI doctor has placed her on a medication called Flagyl to help her stomach get rid of all the bacteria until she can tolerate normal, large volume meals every three hours. It is not erythromycin, and it seems to be working well! We will start compressing her meals down slowly until she tolerates a large meal every three hours. We also had a follow up with her lung doctor, and they have decided to allow Charlotte to take her oxygen off for 4 hours at a time during the day! This is a huge burden lifted because now we don't have to lug the oxygen tank with us to doctors appointments and on walks. Less tubes equals more freedom. Charlotte looks so much healthier and older without the breathing tube on her face. Also, the lung doctor decided that Charlotte does not need to take her diuretic medicine anymore. This medicine was helping Charlotte get rid of all the fluid in her body that was staying in her heart and lungs. Now that her heart and lungs have healed, they don't see any fluid at all. Diuretics can cause stomach cramping, abdominal pain, and vomiting, so this is another step in the right direction for her stomach!  Charlottes red blood cell count is also improving. Anemia (low red blood cell counts) can happen for a long time when a baby is born prematurely. Now that Charlotte is older, she is making red blood cells well, and she hasn't required any red blood cell transfusions. She had her 9 month pediatrician follow up, and the pediatrician was so impressed about how well she's doing. In other exciting news, Charlotte was able to meet Santa for the first time! Santa was visiting the Baltimore Inner Harbor, and she got her picture taken with Santa and her family.