Estimated time of arrival

Today was Cohen’s estimated due date or as I sometimes refer to it, his estimated time of arrival. Joel keeps telling me the medical verbage is called estimated date of confinement (edc). I asked why confinement, and he guessed that it was because once baby comes the parents are confined to the house. Either way, it's crazy to think that I would have been 40 weeks pregnant this week.

Yesterday, we went back to the pediatrician for another weight check. He is up to 6 lbs, 8oz. Wow! That’s 13 ounces in 12 days (the doctors like to see growth of half an ounce to an ounce per day). Go Team Cohen! Needless to say the doctor was happy and we don’t have to go back until his four month well check.

Cohen’s growth was no surprise to me as evidenced by his now super-sized hands. The other day Joel and I had both noticed how big they had gotten seemingly overnight. I joked with the doctor that all 13 ounces went to his hands and he recommended that we get him a piano. I was thinking basketball but of course Cohen should have some say in this. He has also outgrown his ‘preemie’ sized clothing. Looking at those little outfits, it’s hard to believe he was ever that small, let alone a 2-lber at birth.

Cohen is now in the midst of a growth spurt and his abundant weight gain confirmed this theory. Now that Cohen is bigger and has the okay from the doctor to go more than three hours between eating, he wants to eat about every hour and a half, at least the past few days anyways. I was waiting for him to become more demanding about eating and my wish has come true (times ten). Thankfully, the increased feedings happen mostly during the day!

Now that we've reached his due date we will look to his corrected age for developmental milestones. His corrected age or adjusted age is based on the expected due date. It's calculated by subtracting the number of weeks he was born early from his chronological age. So, since Cohen was born 12 weeks early and he will be 12 weeks old on Saturday, he'll be zero weeks corrected this week. I know, sounds funny right? I guess that means it will be his 'Corrected Birthday' on Saturday. Hmmm, maybe we should celebrate with cake...and ice cream. Anyway, in four weeks, he'll be four weeks corrected age. So this means that hopefully Cohen will be smiling at us by Christmas!!! (when he's 6 weeks corrected age). Sounds like a Merry Christmas to me:^)