7 wks old

Dear Griffin,

You have a had a rough last week. On Wednesday 2.13, you were diagnosed with severe RSV. Dr Herbert wanted to put you in the hospital again, but I reminded her that you were scheduled to see Dr Koch at OHSU on Friday 2.15. Reluctantly she agreed to give me a nebulizer machine and give you breathing treatments. You were seen by her that night and the following morning to make sure you hadn't worsened. Luckily you never did and we were able to go to the much-anticipated trip to OHSU.

Dr Koch was very nice - a spitting image of Dustin Hoffman. The day went off without a hitch. We had gone up to Portland the night before and ate dinner with Jenn and her friend, Jason. We spent the night at The Marriott downtown. Grandma Bauer was with us, too.

Dr Koch basically said that MRIs done on babies that young are very unreliable when it comes to diagnosing something that severe. He was not concerned with the findings found on the MRI done when you were in the NICU. He said you looked great developmentally and that he wasn't concerned that you'd have issues as you got older. He said we could start tapering you off of the phenobarbital starting the 1st week of March, but it's a 6wk ordeal. By April 21 you will be off Phenobarbital. You had another EEG on Friday and we'll come back in May to do another MRI, then see Dr Koch again with you off of Phenobarital.

You're starting to cooo and talk to mom. You smile when I smile at you. You sleep about 5hrs at a time at night, and are starting to get your nights and says back to normal. You don't like sleeping in your crib during the day, but rather prefer being snuggled by us, or in our down pillows. At night you do rather well in your crib.

We love you very much and are amazed everyday. We know in our hearts you are pefect and you always will be.

Love,
Momma