Following up with Colin

Colin had his follow-up appointment at the NICU clinic last week, back at the hospital. He is becoming a much better traveler, so by the time we got to the hospital (a whopping 10 minutes from home) he was pretty zoned out. But within a minute of walking through the hospital doors, he perked up, looked around and started smiling. He was back “home.”

He must recognize the change in lighting, or maybe he can smell something. However he does it, he seems to know right away when he’s back at the hospital. And our little hospital junkie likes being back. 

I have to say, going to the follow-up clinic is always a bit of a surreal experience. They see lots of babies besides the preemies there — babies with other conditions that require ongoing monitoring. And typically there are four or five other families waiting. But our babies have rock star status because everyone knows them (and us). Plus, with two on different schedules, we’re back pretty frequently.

So when we walked in, rather than asking who we were, I just got “You haven’t moved or anything, have you?” 

And then while we were waiting, every time someone (staff) came through the waiting room, I heard a loud, “Colin!” and someone else was stopping by to say hi to him. Of course, the fact that his occupation therapist also works at the hospital only adds to the number of people we know. 

So Colin weighed in at a whopping 12 pounds. He is officially on the growth chart (adjusted) now. He’s only at 3%, but considering it’s the first time he’s even made the chart, that is pretty exciting. His lungs still are a little wheezy, and the neo doc suggested that we talk to his doctor about putting Colin on an inhaled steroid (Pulmacort) to help strengthen his lungs. (I still haven’t called his pediatrician about it yet.)

The occupational therapist is a little concerned about his strong (overriding) preference to roll only to the left, but since he is using both hands equally she is pretty sure it’s more habit than a sign of some neurological problems. So she has been working on getting Colin to roll to the right for a couple of weeks. 

Otherwise, he is doing very well. He is still behind in his gross motor skills and strength. But his muscle tone has softened (which is good, because he had high tone — or too much muscle tone) and he will stretch out and bend forward much easier now. And he is holding his head and shoulders up much better when he is on his stomach now too. 

So we will continue to work with the occupational and physical therapists with him, and gradually I expect he will catch up to where he needs to be.

We will have a speech re-evaluation coming up soon, but I am not really worried about speech with Colin. He is a little chatterbox, and makes quite a range of noises. He hasn’t really started to imitate us yet, though. In fact, one nearly sure-fire way to make Colin crack up is to say to him, “Colin, can you say mama mama mama? (or baba baba baba)”

He also hadn’t really be making strong vowel-consonant combos, as I told the doctor at the clinic. However, on the way home, suddenly out of nowhere, Colin shouted out a good “ba ba” from the back seat.