Our sweet little baby turned 4 months old on May 16th and that meant a lot of things. Mostly, she was soon to have her 4 month NICU follow-up with a Neuro Pediatrician at OHSU/Dornbeckers. So, since I was going to have to take her up to Portland for that appointment, I decided to make 2 other doctor appointments for Maggie the same day. I know, aren't I such the best mom ever? AJ wanted to come as well since the appointment with the Dornbecker doctor was such a big appointment. Big in the sense of finding out how our baby was doing developmentally and big also in the sense of a 3 hour appointment!
So, in the morning Maggie had her 4 month well baby check up with our normal pediatrician. She did great. No big concerns from us and because she is our second, we aren't as surprised when things change and come up, she is a pretty good sleeper and she is a great eater/poop-er/pee-er. What more could you ask for from a 4 month old? So not a lot of questions. Her stats are: weight, 15 pounds and height is 25 inches. To compare, Porter was 15 pounds 12 ounces and 26 1/2 inches in height. She is very normal but man oh man, she is a chunky monkey. And when she got her one shot, the nurse commented that this is when her thunder thighs would come in handy! She still cried a tiny little bit but was her happy smiling self shortly thereafter.
The next appointment was for an ultrasound follow up from her bladder infection. We drove down the rode to St. Vincent Hospital and had a renal ultrasound down. Meaning, they look at your bladder and your kidneys and send pictures and results to our doctor to make sure they are properly functioning. How do you do an ultrasound on a baby? Very carefully. The bladder was pretty easy but the the kidneys they need you lying on your belly, so I tried to hold Maggie chest to chest but she would not have any of it as she is in the stage when she is awake she wants to look out, not at my chest. So, I rocked her a little and she thankfully fell asleep and the rest was a breeze. So glad it worked out that way and we will find out the results early this week. Let's pray all is okay with her kidneys.
AJ, Maggie and I then had a break. We headed downtown for some lunch at Rice Junkies and jumped back in the car to head over to OHSU. And then we headed up to our 3 hour appointment. She met with a clinician who does some evaluations with her (speech, gross and fine motor skills, physical movement, sound awareness and such), then with the Neuro Ped and then with an audiologist. Each person is about a hour session and was super helpful, informative and really nice!
As they tested Maggie for all her motor skills and language, it was said multiple times how much of a talker she was. She was yacking up a storm and was very expressive and funny with the clinician. She did great on all her evaluations except for when you pull her up, she does not help you at all. So she is still slightly low muscle tone. But the doctor explained this is very normal for babies of her NICU situation and she is right on for that and eventually will catch up. No concern really. She reaches for things and swats at things and notices things, all perfect for her age. It is crazy how they can test each of these areas and determine if she is behind in something. I was impressed at all the Maggie put up with!
When they left, we then had about 10 minutes before the Neuro Ped doctor came in and Maggie was out. She feel asleep hard core and slept through the initial question and answer time with us and the doctor and then I had to wake her up for him to do his own observation. She was not super happy about this but eventually started smiling and he was able to do interact with her some. He was happy with her as well. We did talk about concern about hearing loss considering my situation and the history in my family. He also mentioned something else we had never heard before that because of her pulmonary hypertension and the treatment of antibiotics they give for that, Maggie could also be at a little higher risk for hearing loss. He mentioned this and my family history to the audiologist before we met with her.
The audiologist was very informative and nice. We talked about my history and such and discovered that most likely my hearing loss is genetic and related to something I was born with. AJ loved talking to the audiologist about it. I was so happy to know that since Maggie did not have what I had, most likely she won't have severe hearing loss like I do. That is not to say she won't struggle at all, but we will be monitoring her for sure. SO then the audiologist performed a couple of tests on her and her hearing was PERFECT! No issues thus far. Praise the Lord! Again and again Maggie continues to amaze us!
So after 2 hours and 45 minutes we were done. We did another diaper change on Maggie and hit the road back home to Salem. She had done awesome. She slept the whole ride home as she was exhausted and worn out. I don't blame her one bit. It was a lot for us as parents and we didn't have to endure multiple dress and undress, a shot, an ultrasound, two hearing tests, a full motor skills test and 2 check ups by doctors. She was a champ.
Our next follow up with the doctor at Dornbecker is not till she turns one. So no more marathon doctor appointment days like that for a long while.
Miss Maggie, you are a rock-star. Thank you for putting up with everyone so beautifully and still smiling despite all we put you through on Friday. We love you lots, Mommy and Daddy!
P.S. Thank you, Lori, for watching Porter as he would have been bored to tears, literally!
