My life as a Mommy of 4 little boys

Monday, October 10, 2011

Developmental Pediatrician Appt

Today was Preston's developmental pediatrician appt.  This is the appt the NICU had us set up to have him checked at 4mo to see how he is doing.  

They said he's doing really well.  We knew he'd be delayed, he was 3wks early and really sick.  So while he was technically full term he's considered a premature baby because of how sick he was, he was underdeveloped.  So she said after reading his history before seeing him she knew he'd be delayed but he's doing really well.  Like he's where he should be in the delayed range...he's not even further behind what they'd expect after his birth.  He's 4mo 1.5wks right now and she put him at 3mo developmentally...which is right where I thought, I'd been saying he seems about 6wks behind to me.  He is smiling and cooing and laughing some.  He's a very content and quiet baby so he isn't very social, he's pretty serious most of the time.  You have to work pretty hard for those smiles and laughs but if he's in a really good mood he'll be really social for a little bit.  He's following with his eyes and responding to sound which is good.  He still isn't reaching out to grab things or bat at them...though he has started to the past few days some.  The only things he'll hold are his paci cloth and obv lovey sized blanket, nothing with much weight to it.  He's got good head control, is rolling from tummy to back and lifting his head when on his tummy.  She said he's actually about where he should be as far as how he acts on his belly and then asked if he sleeps on his tummy and I said yes and she said that's probably why, because he spends a lot of time on his belly because he also puts himself to sleep.  

She said that the nitric oxide and cause delays with how their muscles develop so he's doing really good seeing he was on it for quite awhile.  Also with the nitric and how he had pulmonary hypertension, that can cause hearing loss so even though he passed his newborn screening it is still a concern for awhile.  So they have referred us to an audiologist to have his hearing checked sometime before a year old and then depending on how that goes he'll either be giving the all clear or need further follow ups with them. He will go back to the developmental pediatricians in Feb and she said if he isn't sitting confidently, no support at all and trying to get from sitting to the crawling position then we will probably put him into physical therapy but for now his delays can be managed at home with some exercises she showed me.  He isn't sitting at all, he needs to be fully supported so we will be working on that with him so he can get to sitting with little support and then on his own.  But she thinks he'll do really well, he'll just be behind for awhile but should catch up.  

They weighed him and got exactly 15lbs but that was in a big long sleeve/pants outfit, socks and a wet diaper....I weighed him last night and got 14.5lbs still lol

They measured him and got 25.5in, they got 25.25 at the dr so he's somewhere around there (50th%) and his head is 41cm (25th%)


So for now we will do all the exercises she showed me, follow up with the audiologist and then with them again in Feb.  

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