Developments

Well, I've decided Robbie likes to make a liar of me.

The last few days have brought some interesting developments in his world. Only one of those is bad.

I'll start with that one so we can end on a good note.

The eating is the worst it has ever been. Last week he'd started spitting up quite a bit again, so I called GI. They wanted me to switch back to Elecare again. I was skeptical because Elecare was the formula he was on when he was discharged from the NICU and he threw up so much that was back in the hospital for dehydration.

But I thought I'd try. So Thursday we switched. The spitting up improved, but the eating declined severely. He went from eating between one and two ounces to eating maybe 5 or 10 ml. (Everything leftover goes into the tube.)

Yesterday he started spitting up again. So yesterday afternoon I switched him back to plain breastmilk, but he still wouldn't eat. Finally last night I managed to trick him into sucking on a bottle w/o getting any milk and eventually got him to eat and he took a little more than 2 oz. But that was a one shot deal. Since then the most he's taken has been 12ml. (30ml=1oz)

So that's frustrating. I'd like to see things improve, but I'd settle for status quo. Declines are not welcome.

BUT.. good things abound!

The rolling: He could if he wanted to. I've been saying that for at least a week, but today OT agreed with me. He had a reevaluation with the head OT lady and she said that he can do all of the things he needs to do (arms and hip wise) he just doesn't get all the way over from back to front probably because pain stops him.

And he actually has gotten from belly to back a couple of times. He's not doing it the "right" way by turning his hips, but he can flip himself over. OT says he does it that way to avoid pressure on his belly.

But it still counts!

And really, in my opinion, the most exciting thing is his language development.

The last couple of weeks has been all about the voice. He's learned to squeak, squeal and grunt. And two days ago, he started babbling. At first it was a couple of "ahbah. Ahbah. Abaah." then one or two "mah. mah."
But last night I got a whole string of "Mahmahmahmah. Mmmmmmmmmm mah. Mmmmmmmmm mah. Mama." and a few "bahbahbah."

I was so giddy I could have peed myself. I realize he's not really saying momma, but it's still the right sounds and I LOVE IT.

I was prepared more for baba or dada because he prefers those sounds, but I'll take mama!

He's also really getting good with his hands. He can find his pacifier and get it in his mouth. He's still working on how to turn it if it's aimed wrong, but even that is showing dramatic improvement. Just this morning I caught him staring at it and turning it a little like he was trying to figure out which way was up.

These things are coming just in time, too. His NICU follow up evaluation is Thursday and I've been a nervous wreck about it. Not that I don't know where he stands on stuff, but it's a different story when you're going to have to trek him into a child development center and have him judged by a bunch of strangers. They're going to assign him a developmental age and seeing it in black and white might be painful.

BUT, at least now we've got some bright spots even if some of his gross motor stuff still really sucks.

Actually it's a very full week for us here.
He had a follow up OT evaluation this morning. Tomorrow is his 9 month well baby exam. Wednesday we have a play date with some NICU friends and a PT evaluation that afternoon. Then Thursday is the NICU follow up. Robbie is going to be a little social butterfly.

I'm just his manager and publicist. It's a good job if you can get it.

--Trish