Can you believe that Jaxson is already 10 months old? It’s amazing to me, how far he has come since he was born, and especially in the last month, where he has progressed by leaps and bounds. Here are some highlights:
- Jax weighs 21 pounds! He’s 28 1/2 inches long. (When he was born, he weighed 1lb 8oz and was 11 3/4 inches long.)
- Jax can sit!
- Jax can roll from his back to his tummy!
- He can pivot on his belly.
- He can grab toys and transfer them from hand to hand.
- Jax thinks it’s fun to pull my glasses off my face.
- He gets mad when he doesn’t get what he wants. And he lets you know it.
- He loves being outside.
- He has two teeth threatening to poke through! One on the top and one on the bottom. (And he is not a very big fan of either of them.)
- Jax can drink out of a sippy cup with help and will gulp down water like it’s going out of style.
- He is still struggling with the bronciolitis. It’s been a month now with daily wheezing and coughing. And that means, multiple nebulizer treatments of Albuterol (a fast-acting medicine like an inhaler) and Budesonide (an inhaled steroid to help maintain his airways) a day.
This week is crazy – we have 6 doctor’s appointments! Yes, you heard me. Six. Early Intervention, PT, OT, pediatrician, ROP specialist (eyes), and a cranio-cap fitting.
Early Intervention helps us track and monitor his development to make sure he is on track with his adjusted age. Based on their evaluations (and the evaluation done at the NICU Follow-Up Appointment last week), cognitively, Jax is scoring at a 7 month age level. His adjusted age is 6 months. So, my little buddy is pretty smart. 😉
Physically (i.e. fine and gross motor skills), he’s at the 5 – 6 month age level. So, he’s pretty much right on track for his adjusted age. The main thing that he isn’t doing but should be doing is rolling from his tummy to his back.
In Physical Therapy, we are working on rolling from back to tummy on both sides (right now, he can only go to the left.) We are also working on rolling from his tummy to his back. Yesterday, he practiced kneeling at a bench to play – he complained a little bit, but after a while, he didn’t seem to mind! This will help him begin preparing to pull up to a standing position.
In Occupational Therapy, we are working on eating textures. We started by crumbling puffs into his purees. This is opposite of what I thought we would do – I expected the combination of textures to be “advanced” and that we would start with crunchy / dry textures alone first. But, he did a pretty good job and only gagged when we introduced the larger chunks. He is also learning to pick up food and bring it to his mouth.
Jax dosen’t mind his Cranio-Cap one bit. It’s really easy! The only thing that somewhat sucks about it is that it smells! So, I wash it twice a day with his baby shampoo and that helps. He goes in on Friday for a fitting where they will adjust the cap if needed. I can already tell a a difference! The design winner was vikings horns, but I can’t.find.any.anywhere. Isn’t that weird? All I can find are big bumper stickers and those are way to big to put on his helmet. I can find little stickers that are in the shape of the Vikings logo/helmet, but no horns. So, I could use some help – have you seen any small vikings horn stickers? Or do you have any ideas?
We got good news at his eye appointment today! His retinas are looking “really good.” Since his Avastin injections and the laser surgery to treat his Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), the doctor has been closely monitoring his retinas for signs of detachment. (If the retinas detached, he would be blind.) We have one more follow-up appointment with the specialist in 7 weeks. After that, we can kick ROP to the curb for good! He has been referred to a pediatric ophthalmologist to check his vision for glasses and test for signs of lazy eye. Many preemies have to wear glasses early and develop lazy eyes, so the new doctor will be able to catch any problems right away.
So – there you have it – a nuts and bolts post about the great and magnificent Jax! 🙂
An Early Start 