NICU Developmental Clinic Visit #3

We had our 3rd NICU Developmental Clinic visit this afternoon - it was a long appointment, and we got mostly good news!

The neonatologist and the physical therapist both were pleased with Judith's progress!  She is within the normal range for her adjusted age in all areas except 1, where she is between her actual and adjusted age (she scored at a 14 month level in cognitive development).  They're keeping an eye out for a couple things, one of them being some low muscle tone, and she's been fighting that since birth.  She'll still sit in a "w" position, which apparently indicates the low tone, but her core strength is really improved, so that's a bonus!

They're recommending that we continue with Early Intervention, since she would still qualify based off of the areas she's lagging in.  The telling point for that will be her annual evaluation in April, and it will depend on the therapist they send to complete said evaluation.  Her EI therapist, however, thinks that with the progress she's seeing, she should qualify for a few more months of services.  We'll have to wait a month and see what happens.

The one concerning thing is her weight gain.  They did a digital naked weight instead of a naked weight on the regular scale, and she weighs 18 lbs 12 oz.  For her, that's kind of a big difference from the 19 lbs we thought she was the other week.  That also means she's only gained about 5 oz since she was at the CF clinic in early February.  It doesn't help that she's hit the picky toddler stage, and also thinks it's entertaining to feed the dogs (and they certainly don't help matters with their constant begging).  It's hard to strike that balance: the dogs get upset if I pen them in a separate room, and they think they're in trouble, and Judith keeps looking for them.  But she eats, and doesn't throw as much food on the floor.  On the other hand, if I try to not upset the dogs and leave them roam, 9 times out of 10 Judith waits for one or both of them to stand by the high chair and starts dropping food to them.  Obviously I'm going to do what's best for Judith, but it's going to be an adjustment period for all of us, and Buster & Lady will need to learn that they're not in trouble.

I'm also guessing that her increasing mobility is playing a factor in all of this.  She is constantly on the go right now, and I only see it getting worse once she starts walking.

Taking all of that into mind, I have no clue what they're going to say at our next clinic appointment if she still hasn't gained a lot by then.  In the meantime, we're going to have to try to push more high calorie foods for her and see if that can make a difference.

NICU Follow-Up Clinic

A lot has happened since my last post, and I'll break it up into 2 separate posts to keep the length down.

Last Thursday we had an appointment with the NICU follow-up clinic.  Judith met with Maureen (the NICU PT) and with Dr. Unger.  It was great to see both of them again, and it was fun to show off how far Judith has come!

For the most part, things are looking good: her current weight is around 14 lbs 9 oz, and her length remains the same (they measured her around 24.5", but we got pretty consistent 25" before clinic, so I'm going with that and attributing the 1/2" less to the difference in measuring devices).

Judith was put through the developmental tests, and is measuring on target or ahead for most things: Expressive is at an 8 month level (on target for her actual age - yay!), Gross motor is at a 6 month level (on target for adjusted age), and there were 1 or 2 other things that are on target for her adjusted age but I can't remember what they are anymore.  We found out that she has a pretty significant delay in fine motor, and I'm honestly not surprised - I've been watching Judith interact with things in the environment and noticing some small things that she should be doing but isn't yet, like holding her bottle on her own.  She scored at a 3-3.5 month level in fine motor, so that means Maureen will contact Judith's early intervention service coordinator and arrange for an occupational therapy eval and services.  Maureen noticed that Judith doesn't like to pick up certain things, and she said she is seeing some tactile defensiveness (I think that was the term...) and we have to get Judith to work through that.  Hence the OT services.  I don't doubt that the services will help her catch up to where she needs to be - PT has been doing wonders for her, and I'm sure OT will do the same!