No longer anemic!!

We just got the results of his second set of blood work back and it’s official - my little preemie is no longer anemic!! This means no more vitamins with iron or straight iron supplement twice a day. No more heel sticks.

We found out shortly after he was born through blood work on him and then on me that he had a fetal maternal hemorrhage. He was bleeding into me during the pregnancy. They have no idea exactly how long this was going on, but through another blood test they know it was going on long enough that his bone marrow had kicked in and started making red blood cells in utero, which is doesn’t usually do until they’re born. It’s suspected that this is why I went into labor at 23 weeks. His body and mine must have known something was wrong. The neonatologist said we were lucky he came at 33 weeks when he did, because most babies who have a fetal maternal hemorrhage don’t make it. They typically only know it existed when mom stops feeling the baby move. I am SO blessed that my little fighter made it into this world.

After being right on the border for needing a blood transfusion for a very long time, his pediatrician decided not to check his blood count for 2 months. He didn’t want to take away precious blood that his body was working so hard to make. They checked it 3 weeks ago and then again this morning to confirm. I am over the moon with excitement knowing his body has worked such miracles and he doesn’t have to have a transfusion. It’s so crazy looking back at pictures and seeing how pale he was then compared to now. Pictures don’t really even do it justice. My ❤️ is so full!

The day we finally got to bring him home from the NICU:

Yesterday