April 2010

Abraham is gaining weight and is staying healthy. Has been respiratory infection free for 1 month now. He is teething and just had MMR and Pneumonia vaccination. I was going to wait for these vaccinations until he was a little older however a core man at Naval Hospital mentioned 6 confirmed cases of measles in Vancouver,Canada. Washington is not very far from the border and we go to Children's in Seattle a lot so I did not want to take any chances. He saw neurodevelopment a few weeks ago. Changes: motor skills: greater than 5 months but delayed; social skills: 6-9 months. She recommended that he is evaluated by the therapy dept at Children's. I was discouraged by the home therapist to have this done however decided to pursue it since 4 professionals recommend it. I would kick myself later if I did not have it done. We are in the process of setting this up. He has early intervention services,PT and an eye specialist from the school district. Nutrition: He is gaining weight and getting taller, he is 18 lbs 11 oz and 2 feet 4 inches. I have decreased the number of times I pump per day (but still tied to pump machine) and am encouraging nursing rather than bottle feeding. This has been a bit stressful since it is a major change. Still have frozen milk to use. Looking forward to that day when more food can be stored in the deep freezer and less breast milk. He is learning to drink from a sippy cup and a toddler water bottle. He ate steak and peas for Easter, not steak the way adults would eat it. His favorite solid food is mangoes. This month he sees: pulmonary (maybe oxygen sat monitor wean, only using at night), neurosurgery, hearing test and swallow study. He sees the eye doctor at Children's in May. He is also having an eye specialist from the school district doing an evaluation for his vision impairment. Social: dad, Glenn, will be gone for 1 more month then come home briefly, Grandma Tomlinson is visiting for Easter and respite care with Stephanie started. Abe's former NICU roommate is over 18 lbs and is so cute, will post pics in late May. He never got to go to his home but is in a group home with his mother. The father and school age son occasionally make the 4 hour trip to see the baby and mother. It breaks my heart that he is so far from his whole family. I plan to go and visit Maria the mother some time. Abe, Stephanie and I visited the Fisher House, It was nice Glenn was able to check on our home in Florida and visit friends and family. My mom is helping to get the house ready for the hard wood flooring, hint, hint Glenn!!!! I will continue to try for monthly updates on his blog.