Going to the Doctor

Waiting in the lobby for my name to be called like a big boy!

This week was a busy one for Owen. He had his 1 year NICU follow up appointment on Tuesday and his 1 year eye doctor follow up appointment on Thursday.

At his NICU follow up appointment, they asked Owen to do several tasks that were "scored." The scores are meant to tell us if he is behind and needs extra help or if he has caught up. Overall, he did really well, but it was a very long appointment! It's not often that we ask him to sit at a table for an hour and a half doing things like putting pegs in holes, drawing with a pencil and paper, putting blocks into a cup and then taking them out, etc. so by the end, we were all ready to be done! The physical therapist said that he is doing very well. She said that his scores showed him to be in the 15 month level in most areas. However, when he is with strangers, he doesn't say much and that day was no different. (It didn't help that she had a cold and had a face mask on either!) He wouldn't utter a single syllable to her, so she had to rate him at 10 months for language. When she asked what he is saying, she told us that he sounds like he is right on track, she just couldn't score him accordingly because he didn't say anything there.

After the PT was done, a nurse weighed and measured him. He is in the 80th percentile for head, 75th for height and 50th for weight, so that is excellent! One of the neonatalogists that we really liked when we were at the NICU was working down in the follow-up clinic on Tuesday, so it was fun to see him. He said that Owen is doing fantastic. He said that it means they did a good job with him when they had him in the hospital and that we are doing a great job with him at home, so to keep it up. That was wonderful to hear. We think of him as a normal, almost 15 month old, but it helps to hear doctors say that he's doing well too!

On Thursday, we went to the eye doctor for his 1 year follow-up visit. When O was born, he had to be tested for a condition preemies sometimes get, called ROP. He didn't have it, but there are a lot of other conditions that ex-preemies can have as they grow. The eye doctor said that she could detect slight near-sightedness and a slight astigmatism. We have to go back in 6 months and she'll decide then if he needs to have glasses. Both of these are common conditions in preemies, but I have both of them as well, so it could be in his genes too.

Now in a couple weeks, he has his 15 month well baby check. Lots of doctor appointments!!!!