| 12-04-2007: Just a quick update to say that Danni is approaching her third birthday and is very LARGE for her age! She talks in sentences, loves Mickey Mouse, and is the greatest joy to ever enter our lives. There is absolutely no sign that she was ever a preemie. Thanks to everyone who has read her story here! |
| 2-10-2006: Danni is now clapping and waving and saying her first words...we think! She said 'bye' while waving and says something like 'fishies' when I feed the fish. She'll also say 'dadadadadada' but I don't think it's directed at me! |
| 1-6-2006: It's been a while since I updated the site. I guess we've been busy enjoying our baby girl! Danni is over 22 pounds now and runs all over the house in her walker. Her first birthday is coming up but technically she's still 9 months old. She had a great Christmas seeing her Uncle Ralph and cousins Kristina and Michael up from Florida! |
| 8-18: Danni had her first applesauce today. She loved it! |
| 8-14: What a wonderful rainy Sunday morning! We all slept in till 10AM!!! |
| 8-12: Danni had other foods today...like sweet potatoes and strawberry yogurt. |
| 8-8: Danni had her first food today...oatmeal! |
| 8-7: Today was the Kennedy/Parker reunion, so Danni met lots of her distant relatives. The reunion was held at the old Dannahe homestead! Danni's great-great grandmother Catherine Dannahe lived here one hundred years ago. |
| 8-6: Happy Birthday Grandpa Ralph! We hope you had a fun party in heaven! Today Danni went over to her next door neighbor's house - William. William is 5 month's old! His Mommy (Sara) and Daddy (Chris) had a party. Thanks Chris for sharing the turkies you hunted with us - they were delicious! |
| 8-3: Danni is starting to hold on to things that we hand to her. |
| 7-28: Mom had lunch today with her old Xerox co-workers. Danni recently began rolling over- both ways! |
| 7-26: Next door neighbors Chris and Sara came over for dinner and brought newborn son William. William and Danni will no doubt blaze a trail in between the two houses! |
| 7-23: Danni's Uncle Chris had a birthday party. It was at their home and Aunt Hong did a great job planning it! Danni enjoyed watching all the kids play on the swing. |
| 7-20: Dannahe had studio portaits taken at JC Penney today. |
| 7-19: Danni and mom were visited today by some of mom's co-workers from Xelus. Thank you ladies for the great presents. |
| 7-18: Mom and Dad, along with Danni's grandparents and some aunts and uncles, took a tour of the Geneva Armory today, where Danni's great-grandfather Ed Kennedy was a member of Company B and fought in WW1. Grandma Lena and Papa Tony babysat Danni. |
| 7-17: Today was Danni's daddy's birthday. He shares it with his mom- Grandma Kuntz and also with Danni's Great-Grandpa Joseph Mastroeni (Tricia's maternal grandfather). |
| 7-16: Dannahe went to Uncle Louie's and Aunt Sara's annual picnic at their home in Red Creek. She met lots of relatives on her mom's side that she has never met before. |
| 7-15: Grandma and Grandpa Kuntz got home from Ireland today, while Danni met Steve's friends Shannon and Carrie Case. Shannon is raising money for cancer via the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Peloton Project. He is training for a charity bike race down in Texas. Please visit his website (and donate) here |
| 7-11: Dannahe had an appointment with Dr. Ingerowski today and weighed over 17 pounds! She is actually ahead of the growth curve for her corrected age. |
| 7-10: Dannahe was visited today by Steve's cousin Lorrie (Betty Jane's daughter) visiting from Washington State, along with her daughter Jordan. |
| 7-8: Dannahe weighs about 16 pounds now. She spends most of her time laughing and trying to stick her whole hand into her mouth. She is very good during tea parties and sleeps through most of the night. |
| 7-4: Happy Fourth of July! Danni spent the day at Uncle Mike and Aunt Christine's house for a picnic. No fireworks yet though! |
| 7-3: Danni got to sit on the grass today for the first time. |
| 6-27: Danni had an ophthalmology appointment at Strong hospital today and everythng went well. Her vision is perfect! |
| 6-26: Danni was baptized today in the same baptism dress that her mother wore. The baptism was at St. Anne's Church in Palmyra, and it was followed by a party at Danni's house. |
| 6-19: Happy Father's Day! Danni's dad is SO happy that she came into his life!
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| 6-12: Dad took Danni to Syracuse for cousin Christopher's baptism and then party at Aunt Debbie's house. All the cousins were there. Danni laughed out loud at Uncle Tim's father's face. We took a Jen came over to visit. Dad ran (walked) in the Chase Corporate Challenge tonight.
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| 5-30: Danni had a great Memorial Day, Grandma and Grandpa Kuntz came over, along with Dave, Missy, Sydney and Austin, and everyone grilled food and had fun! Steve's friends Danni loved it!
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| 5-26: Daddy had some of the old Goof Troop over today to play computer games.
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| 5-22: Dannahe was visited today by Tim Swanson, his wife Jean, and their newborn Dillon.
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| 5-21: Dannahe had a "Vintage Circus" baby shower today given by Laurie, Missy, Hong, Debbie, and Laura (Tricia's sisters-in-law). Aunt Laura graciously hosted the party at her house. Many of Danni's great aunts were there. Later, she went to Grandma and Grandpa Kuntz's house and met all her cousins.
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| 5-17: Dannahe was visited today by Marilyn Swick, mother of Steve's friend John.
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| 5-15: Danni went to Grandma and Grandpa Kuntz's house tonight while Steve and Tricia went to a movie for the first time in seven months! They went to see "Kingdom of Heaven" and missed Danni the whole time. Dannahe also tasted her first non-milk food today...a strawberry! Dad put it to her mouth and she licked it...she wasn't sure what to think about that!
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| 5-14: Grandma Lena and Papa Tony came over and took care of Danni all day while Mom and Dad caught up on some chores.
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| 5-10: Dannahe had a doctor's appointment with Dr. Ingerowski and she weighed 11 pounds 8 ounces! Everything is going great and she's caught back up on the growth chart to where she should be.
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| 5-8: Happy Mother's Day! Dannahe is so glad that she has Tricia for a mother! We had a GREAT day today, Grandma Lena and Tony came over while mom and dad worked around the house, then we went to see Grandma and Grandpa Kuntz and Danni met her cousins Ethan and Julia. Danni and her dad gave Tricia perfume for a Mother's Day present, but the best present was that they let her sleep ALL NIGHT LONG!
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| 5-7: Danni went to her cousin Karlie's first communion in Chili and met a lot of her aunts and uncles on her mom's side.
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| 5-5: Danni had a cardiology appointment with Dr. Connuck at Strong today. Her heart murmur is still there but it isn't anything to be concerned about...they usually close on their own and even if it doesn't, it's not anything to worry about. The big news is that Danni now weighs 10 pounds 12 ounces!
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| 4-26: Danni's daddy went to San Francisco today on a business trip. At the end of the trip he visited his cousin twice-removed Esther Hansen, who is 104 years old! She's voted for 20 different presidents, her first was Calvin Coolidge in 1924! She was very interested to hear all about Danni and all the adventures of her birth. Mom held down the fort at home while dad was gone.
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| 4-24: Danni made history today by being one of the first babies to be at her own baby shower. It was hosted by her Aunt Christine and cousin Karlie. Since Danni was born at six months, we didn't have an opportunity to have any baby showers before she was born!
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| 4-20: Danni went to Dr. Ingerowski's today and weighed 9 pounds 6 ounces! She is growing fast! Dannahe was also visited by a reporter from the Palmyra Courier-Journal to do a story for Mother's Day.
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| 4-17: Dannahe's room is just about done! Danni has been perfecting her ear-splitting scream.
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| 4-14: Great-Aunt Donna and Great-Uncle Skip came to see little Dannahe today!
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| 4-10: Uncle Adam came home from Oswego today to see Danni. |
| 4-9: Danni met her cousin Karlie today who will be like her big sister!
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| 4-8: Danni met a lot of aunts and uncles today... Chris and Hong, and Kevin and Laurie.
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| 4-7: Grandma Lena bought Danni a new vibrating seat today! Woo hoo!.
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| 4-6: Cousin Karen, cousin once-removed Beth, and Rick stopped by to see Danni tonight.
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| 4-5: Danni had another doctor's appointment today with Dr. Ingerowski and she was 7 pounds, 5 ounces and 20 inches long! She's as big as a newborn now, which makes sense because she's due this week!
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| 4-3: Uncle Darron and Aunt Laura stopped by to see Danni.
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| 4-2: Uncle Jason came by to see Danni today.
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| 3-31: Aunt Missy came by to see Danni today.
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| 3-30: Danni went for her first walk today in her new stroller.
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| 3-29: The mural is finished on Danni's wall!
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| 3-27: Happy Easter! Aunt Debbie and Uncle Tim came to visit Danni today.
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| 3-26: Happy Birthday to Grandma Lena! Grandma and Papa Tony came over and painted Danni's closet.
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| 3-25: Grandma and Grandpa Kuntz came over to see Danni and have an early Easter dinner.
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| 3-24: Steve weighed Danni this morning by getting on the scale with her and without her and she weighed 6.6 pounds! Very unscientific but she is definitely growing.
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| 3-23: Danni had a visit today from someone from the Wayne County office which specializes in evaluating and helping premature babies in our county. She was very impressed with Danni and said she is the best-looking 27 weeker she has ever seen! She didn't even see any signs of prematurity.
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| 3-22: Tricia is making good progress on Danni's room. Make sure to check out the pictures of her room.
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| 3-21: Danni posed for some Easter pictures today.
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| 3-20: Great-grandpa Kuntz came over to meet his newest great-grandchild...he probably has over 30 now!
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| 3-19: Grandma Lena and Papa Tony came over to watch Danni today while Steve and Tricia got out of the house together for the first time since Danni came home. Where did they go for their big date? Historic House Parts on South Avenue!
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| 3-16: Really good news today! Grandma Lena accompanied Danni and her mom to a hearing appointment today, but the doctors could find no trace of the partial hearing loss detected in the hospital! Danni has perfect hearing! They think that in the NICU, she was always laying on one side and since her ears tubes were undeveloped, that ear tended to get "squished" a little.
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| 3-14: Danni had her second doctor's appointment and she weighed 5 pounds! Her length is 17 inches. She has grown a lot in the past week and we can notice it. She had two shots and took them like a trooper...only cried for a few seconds.
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| 3-11: Uncle Mike and Aunt Christine came by for a visit today.
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| 3-9: Danni's Aunt Debbie had a baby boy named Christopher yesterday!
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| 3-8: Aunt Laura came by tonight for a visit!
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3-7: Dannahe's weight: 4 lbs 6.5 oz! Length: 16.5 inches. Danni had her first pediatrician's appointmant this morning with Dr. Ingerowski. He was highly recommended by all the nurses at the NICU (he used to work there) and we got into his practice (even though it's closed) due to some persistence by Tricia. He said Danni should be a poster child for the NICU because she's doing so well. Some things we are keeping an eye on are a blocked tear duct (she'll probably outgrow it), a heart murmur (Dr. Swantz at the NICU says it sounds very small and will probably correct on it's own), a partial hearing pass in one ear (some frequencies not heard...may be genetic since her dad has the same thing), and her eye exam (it's going well so far). Dr. Ingerowski said he is very impressed with Danni's muscle tone...most preemies are lethargic. Danni is STRONG which you'll find out if you ever have to hold her legs down while you change her diaper! In addition to that she is on some vitamins that they prescribe to all preemies. She also got two shots and only cried for about ten seconds!
Steve is taking off the next few days from work. He went to Lowe's and bought a Victorian screen door for Danni's room, so the cats can be kept out. The guy at Lowe's says they sell a lot of screen doors for that purpose.
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| 3-6: We are getting into a schedule of feeding her every three hours and then watching her sleep. The cats are very interested in her but are respectfully staying away (after a few sniffs) because they sense that we don't want them too close just yet. The doctors at the NICU said that babies who grow up in a house with cats are a lot less likely to have asthma later. I guess they develop an immunity to it.
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| 3-5: Grandma and Grandpa Giglio came by to visit today. They've bought a lot of presents for Danni including her car seat and her crib. They spent all afternoon holding the baby and gave Tricia and I a chance to relax. They even brought lunch!
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| 3-4: We are getting into a schedule of feeding her every three hours and then watching her sleep. The cats are very interested in her but are respectfully staying away (after a few sniffs) because they sense that we don't want them too close just yet. The doctors at the NICU said that babies who grow up in a house with cats are a lot less likely to have asthma later. I guess they develop an immunity to it. Grandma and Grandpa Kuntz came over to see Dannahe tonight and brought some presents.
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| 3-3: Dannahe finally came home today after 53 days in the NICU at Strong Hospital! She got in her car seat at 2:00 and after some instructions to her parents, she slept all the way home! She seemed very interested in her house and kept looking at each of the rooms. Her parents were nervous wrecks of course!
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| 3-1: Dannahe weighed 1910 grams, or 4 lbs 3.5 oz. Danni tried out her car seat today and had her first bath! She will probably be coming home tomorrow.
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| 2-28: Dannahe weighed 1885 grams, or 4 lbs 2.5 oz. She was introduced to socks today.
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| 2-27: Dannahe weighed 1865 grams, or almost 4 lbs 2 oz. We've started to dress her in her own clothes as we get ready to take her home.
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| 2-26: Dannahe weighed 1850 grams, or over 4 lbs 1 oz. Danni is doing great in her open crib and is maintaining her temperature. If things continue with this positive trend, Danni might be coming home in a week.
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| 2-25: Dannahe weighed 1750 grams, or almost 3 lbs 14 oz. Danni was moved to an open crib today! She spent the day with her mother and grandmother.
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| 2-24: Dannahe weighed 1720 grams, or almost 3 lbs 13 oz. has been switched from scheduled and measured feedings to "ad-hoc", meaning she feeds whenever she wants and has as much as she wants. She has been breast feeding and bottle feeding. She also might be moving to an open crib soon. It won't be very long before she is home.
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| 2-23: Dannahe weighed 1700 grams, or 3 lbs 12 oz. She has passed her second ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity) exam, which is a vision problem common in preemies We are very excited that she passed her eye exam, especially since she doesn't even know her letters yet! :-).
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| 2-21: Dannahe weighed 3 lbs 11 oz. Dad took the day off work and took Mom to IHOP! Then to her 6 week appointment...Mom is recovering nicely!
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| 2-20: Dannahe weighed 1595 grams, or 3 lbs 8.5 oz. She had several bradycardia events over the night. :-(
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| 2-19: Dannahe weighed 1575 grams or 3 lbs 7.5 oz. Today Dannahe graduated from being fed every three hours to feeding whenever she wants and how much she wants. She had 40 ccs instead of the usual 30.
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| 2-17: Dannahe weighed 1554 grams or 3 lbs 7 oz.
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| 2-16: Dannahe weighed 1495 grams or 3 lbs 5 oz. Dannahe had blood work done today to see if they can wean her off the caffeine. If she continues to breath OK, she can stay off it until she is a teenager and drinks ten cans of soda a day! :-)
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| 2-15: Dannahe weighed 1470 grams or 3 lbs 4 oz. Danni and Tricia had a surprise visitor today...Dr. Eric Ingerowski! He is a GREAT pediatrician...we wanted to get into his practice and it looks like he will be taking us!
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| 2-14: Dannahe weighed 1445 grams or 3 lbs 3 oz. Happy Valentine's Day! Dad fed Danni 27ccs by bottle today!
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| 2-12: Dannahe weighed 1375 grams or 3 lbs .5 oz. Grandma Lena held Danni for her 2 PM feeding, and then later she took her very first bottle! Danni tries to chug the whole thing without stopping so we have to keep pulling the bottle out so she can breath! Kind of scary but she's doing great.
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| 2-11: Dannahe weighed 1360 grams or almost 3 lbs. Dannahe is 32 weeks gestation today! She is being moved down to the developmental pod, which is for babies that are doing really well, don't need any extensive attention, and just need to gain weight. It is quieter and gives the parents more chances to learn how to take care of their babies.
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| 2-9: Dannahe weighed 1304 grams or 2 lbs. 14 oz. There is a bad snowstorm tonight so Dad was unable to visit you at night! :-( But mom was there during the day and got a tour of the developmental pod where you'll be in a few days.
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| 2-7: Dannahe weighed 1275 grams or 2 lbs 13 oz. She is 16 inches long and her head is 11 inches around. She had her first eye exam today to check for ROP, or Retinopathy of Prematurity. There are no signs of it so far. We started painting your closet and getting the walls ready to paint.
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| 2-6: Dannahe weighed 1255 grams or 2 lbs 12 oz. Danni had a little blood and white blood cells in her urine so she is getting further tests on that today. Today is the Superbowl so we are going to Steve's friend Tim's house to watch the game and meet his newborn son Dillon.
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| 2-4: Dannahe weighed 1215 grams or 2 lbs 11 oz. Danni started her vitamin E supplements today. Since she missed the third trimester, she needs to get extra vitamins. Feedings are up to 23 ccs and mom comes up to hold you during the day, and mom and dad both come up at night. Her eye looks a lot better today!
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| 2-2: Dannahe weighed 1175 grams or 2 lbs 9.5 oz. We tried putting Danni to the breast today for practice, and we got to change her diaper for the first time! Remind me in six months how excited I was to change a diaper. :-)
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| 2-1: Dannahe weighed 1155 grams or 2 lbs 9 oz. Feedings are up to 22 ccs.
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| 1-31: Dannahe weighed 1140 grams or 2 lbs 9 oz. Danni sleeps about 23.5 hours a day right now so we are happy if she is awake while we are there. She is breathing all on her own today. The doctor came and talked to us about a possible heart murmur, which is normal for preemies.
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| 1-30: Dannahe weighed 1130 grams or 2 lbs 8 oz. Big news today! No more IV in her foot and they removed the nasal canula! She is getting 18 ccs of milk.
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| 1-28: Dannahe weighed 1095 grams or 2 lbs 7 oz. Danni's oxygen was reduced again today.
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| 1-27: Dannahe weighed 2 lbs 6.5 oz, 14.5 inches long. Feedings are up to 13-15 ccs.
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