When your child is in the NICU, he or she is weighed once per day to monitor his progress. An unexpected weight loss could indicate a deeper problem. For Karen and me, it was as if we had purchased a lottery ticket and were waiting for the ping-pong balls to shoot up the tube and tell us how much we'd won. "He gained an ounce today! Yahoo!"
When we came home, we missed the daily weighings. A bathroom scale isn't of much help when it's accurate only to half a pound (8 ounces). Besides, just ask any woman, bathroom scales can't be trusted.
So I searched high and low for a scale. Baby stores didn't carry them so I began looking for a meat scale in kitchen supply stores. No luck. Finally it dawned on me, a postal scale! To get one with the accuracy I wanted (fractions of an ounce) I had to pay $92 at OfficeMax. But I got what I wanted and we're back to weighing Matthew.
The graph below shows Matthew's daily progress since his birth on November 15, 2001. Some of the measurements are interpolated since we were without a scale for about a week. For those of you who are particularly detail oriented, check out the table which lists his daily weight in Metric and English units.
Just think, some day probably 30 or 40 years from now, Matthew is going to be telling us he's thinking of going on a diet and shedding some pounds.
Matthew's Daily Weight
| Date | Metric | English | Notes |
| 15-Nov-01 | 725 grams | 1 lbs, 9.6 oz | Bad measurement |
| 16-Nov-01 | 950 grams | 2 lbs, 1.5 oz | Official birth weight |
| 17-Nov-01 | 980 grams | 2 lbs, 2.6 oz | |
| 18-Nov-01 | 942 grams | 2 lbs, 1.2 oz | |
| 19-Nov-01 | 926 grams | 2 lbs, 0.7 oz | |
| 20-Nov-01 | 987 grams | 2 lbs, 2.8 oz | |
| 21-Nov-01 | 1013 grams | 2 lbs, 3.7 oz | |
| 22-Nov-01 | 1033 grams | 2 lbs, 4.4 oz | |
| 23-Nov-01 | 988 grams | 2 lbs, 2.9 oz | |
| 24-Nov-01 | 958 grams | 2 lbs, 1.8 oz | |
| 25-Nov-01 | 966 grams | 2 lbs, 2.1 oz | |
| 26-Nov-01 | 979 grams | 2 lbs, 2.5 oz | |
| 27-Nov-01 | 1051 grams | 2 lbs, 5.1 oz | |
| 28-Nov-01 | 1056 grams | 2 lbs, 5.3 oz | |
| 29-Nov-01 | 1101 grams | 2 lbs, 6.8 oz | |
| 30-Nov-01 | 1135 grams | 2 lbs, 8.0 oz | |
| 1-Dec-01 | 1161 grams | 2 lbs, 9.0 oz | |
| 2-Dec-01 | 1164 grams | 2 lbs, 9.1 oz | |
| 3-Dec-01 | 1201 grams | 2 lbs, 10.4 oz | |
| 4-Dec-01 | 1213 grams | 2 lbs, 10.8 oz | |
| 5-Dec-01 | 1238 grams | 2 lbs, 11.7 oz | |
| 6-Dec-01 | 1251 grams | 2 lbs, 12.1 oz | |
| 7-Dec-01 | 1307 grams | 2 lbs, 14.1 oz | |
| 8-Dec-01 | 1344 grams | 2 lbs, 15.4 oz | |
| 9-Dec-01 | 1340 grams | 2 lbs, 15.3 oz | |
| 10-Dec-01 | 1331 grams | 2 lbs, 15.0 oz | |
| 11-Dec-01 | 1364 grams | 3 lbs, 0.1 oz | |
| 12-Dec-01 | 1341 grams | 2 lbs, 15.3 oz | |
| 13-Dec-01 | 1409 grams | 3 lbs, 1.7 oz | |
| 14-Dec-01 | 1417 grams | 3 lbs, 2.0 oz | |
| 15-Dec-01 | 1452 grams | 3 lbs, 3.2 oz | |
| 16-Dec-01 | 1474 grams | 3 lbs, 4.0 oz | |
| 17-Dec-01 | 1506 grams | 3 lbs, 5.1 oz | |
| 18-Dec-01 | 1511 grams | 3 lbs, 5.3 oz | |
| 19-Dec-01 | 1534 grams | 3 lbs, 6.1 oz | |
| 20-Dec-01 | 1560 grams | 3 lbs, 7.0 oz | |
| 21-Dec-01 | 1620 grams | 3 lbs, 9.2 oz | |
| 22-Dec-01 | 1633 grams | 3 lbs, 9.6 oz | |
| 23-Dec-01 | 1696 grams | 3 lbs, 11.8 oz | |
| 24-Dec-01 | 1724 grams | 3 lbs, 12.8 oz | |
| 25-Dec-01 | 1769 grams | 3 lbs, 14.4 oz | |
| 26-Dec-01 | 1790 grams | 3 lbs, 15.2 oz | |
| 27-Dec-01 | 1831 grams | 4 lbs, 0.6 oz | 4 lbs! Matthew comes home! |
| 28-Dec-01 | 1855 grams | 4 lbs, 1.4 oz | Interpolated |
| 29-Dec-01 | 1879 grams | 4 lbs, 2.3 oz | Interpolated |
| 30-Dec-01 | 1903 grams | 4 lbs, 3.1 oz | Interpolated |
| 31-Dec-01 | 1928 grams | 4 lbs, 4.0 oz | Doctor's office |
| 1-Jan-02 | 1959 grams | 4 lbs, 5.1 oz | Interpolated |
| 2-Jan-02 | 1990 grams | 4 lbs, 6.2 oz | Interpolated |
| 3-Jan-02 | 2021 grams | 4 lbs, 7.3 oz | Interpolated |
| 4-Jan-02 | 2052 grams | 4 lbs, 8.4 oz | Interpolated |
| 5-Jan-02 | 2083 grams | 4 lbs, 9.5 oz | Interpolated |
| 6-Jan-02 | 2115 grams | 4 lbs, 10.6 oz | Changed to postal scale |
| 7-Jan-02 | 2160 grams | 4 lbs, 12.2 oz | |
| 8-Jan-02 | 2193 grams | 4 lbs, 13.4 oz | |
| 9-Jan-02 | 2216 grams | 4 lbs, 14.2 oz | |
| 10-Jan-02 | 2244 grams | 4 lbs, 15.2 oz | |
| 11-Jan-02 | 2261 grams | 4 lbs, 15.8 oz | |
| 12-Jan-02 | 2307 grams | 5 lbs, 1.4 oz | We broke 5 lbs! |
| 13-Jan-02 | 2350 grams | 5 lbs, 2.9 oz | Interpolated |
| 14-Jan-02 | 2393 grams | 5 lbs, 4.4 oz | Interpolated |
| 15-Jan-02 | 2437 grams | 5 lbs, 6 oz | |
| 16-Jan-02 | 2465 grams | 5 lbs, 7 oz | |
| 17-Jan-02 | 2488 grams | 5 lbs, 7.8 oz | Interpolated |
| 18-Jan-02 | 2511 grams | 5 lbs, 8.6 oz | |
| 19-Jan-02 | 2539 grams | 5 lbs, 9.6 oz | |
| 20-Jan-02 | 2607 grams | 5 lbs, 12 oz | |
| 21-Jan-02 | 2641 grams | 5 lbs, 13.2 oz | |
| 22-Jan-02 | 2664 grams | 5 lbs, 14 oz | |
| 23-Jan-02 | 2709 grams | 5 lbs, 15.6 oz | |
| 24-Jan-02 | 2738 grams | 6 lbs, 0.6 oz | We broke 6 lbs! |
| 25-Jan-02 | 2766 grams | 6 lbs, 1.6 oz | |
| 26-Jan-02 | 2823 grams | 6 lbs, 3.6 oz | |
| 27-Jan-02 | 2834 grams | 6 lbs, 4 oz | |
| 28-Jan-02 | 2862 grams | 6 lbs, 5 oz | |
| 29-Jan-02 | 2896 grams | 6 lbs, 6.2 oz | |
| 30-Jan-02 | 2930 grams | 6 lbs, 7.4 oz | |
| 31-Jan-02 | 2993 grams | 6 lbs, 9.6 oz | |
| 1-Feb-02 | 3010 grams | 6 lbs, 10.2 oz | |
| 2-Feb-02 | 3038 grams | 6 lbs, 11.2 oz | |
| 3-Feb-02 | 3066 grams | 6 lbs, 12.2 oz | |
| 4-Feb-02 | 3129 grams | 6 lbs, 14.4 oz | |
| 5-Feb-02 | 3163 grams | 6 lbs, 15.6 oz | |
| 6-Feb-02 | 3180 grams | 7 lbs, 0.2 oz | We broke 7 lbs! |
| 7-Feb-02 | 3225 grams | 7 lbs, 1.8 oz | |
| 8-Feb-02 | 3259 grams | 7 lbs, 3.0 oz |
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