Jump jump

And the baby jumps!

Yum Yum!

Greyson is eating baby food! So far he has eaten bananas, peaches, sweet potatoes and green beans. He is a wonderful eater and appears to enjoy every bite. I am making all his baby food fresh right now with my baby cook. Tonight we pureed fresh bananas and I stopped to give him a couple bites, which he loved.

By the way, we went to the doctor on Monday and Grey weighs 13 pounds 5 ounces. He received his first H1N1 vaccine and has truly been a trooper- no fever or fussiness.

Oh and November is Prematurity Awareness Month so you all will probably be hearing more from me on this topic :)

Little Biscuit

Today


2 months ago



Little Biscuit.

For some reason I have been calling Grey little biscuit all weekend. Maybe it’s because he too is warm and delicious.

I definitely noticed this morning that Greyson no longer fits in his NICU bath bucket. I haven’t used this tub in about 2 month and I was shocked to see his little limbs hanging over the sides. He is getting big. I say this like 100 times a week and then follow it with a long whiny sigh.

We’ve scheduled surgery to correct his inguinal hernia for the 30th of this month. I’ve been putting this off for some time now. I have such strong emotions surrounding this surgery. I do not want my baby staying another night in the hospital. I started to cry the other day on the phone when talking to the nurse. She tells me that he can’t have breast milk after 6am and I start crying. I wonder if that is the usual response from a parent.

7 months!

Greyson is 7 months old today… yikes! 7 months sounds big boy to me. We just got home from the doctor and Grey weighed in at 12 pounds 11 ounces. He received his synagis shot today to protect him from RSV. It seems like every appointment requires shots now. I’m pretty sure these shots hurt me more than Grey.

Okay- so I’ve collected my data from our preemie follow up appointment. Grey was given a development assessment and here are the scores.

6 months (3 months corrected)

Cognitive: 94 Chronological Age; 115 Corrected Age
Physical (motor skills): 82 Chronological Age; 104 Corrected Age
Communication: 91 Chronological Age; 106 Corrected Age

So what does all this mean? Greyson is doing just fine. Cognitive skills are equivalent to a 6 month old, Physical motor skills are equivalent to a 3 ½ month old, Communication is equivalent to a 4 month old. So right now we are on track. However, we certainly have a high risk for developmental delays secondary to prematurity in our future.

This is me desperately trying to make Grey happy after his shots. It takes me a moment to get the camera situated :)

It's Cold Outside

It’s cold outside and someone is grumpy! Matthew and I bundled Grey up on Saturday afternoon; he didn’t particularly love his new hat and scarf.

We are really hoping that TN didn't skip fall completely! One day the weather is beatuiful and the next day it is freezing.

H1N1

Greyson attended his second festival this weekend! Matthew and I took him to the Belle Meade Fall Fest. We bought a beautiful frame for one of Greyson’s pictures. The weather was a little chilly so Grey stayed bundled up inside his stroller. We did take him out so he could see a llama… just like llama llama red pajama.

So I’ve really been debating the H1N1 vaccine this week. I am desperately trying to weigh the odds on this one. Is it riskier to receive the vaccine or not receive the vaccine? Our pediatrician recommended Grey get the vaccine. However, I’ve recently read many concerning articles related to this new vaccine.

Please comment your thoughts about the vaccine.

Country Ham

We made it out to the country ham festival today in Spring Hill. It was interesting. Matthew ate a fried Monte Cristo sandwich! Afterwards he mentioned eating salads for weeks to recover from the calorie overload. The weather was gorgeous! It was so nice to have Grey out in the open air. He really seemed to enjoy the sunshine.

I was extremely busy at work this week which caused a delay in reporting some good news. Grey had his neonatal follow-up appointment this week. This is a clinic at Vanderbilt that has been specializing in the development of preemies and extremely sick infants at birth. The nurse explained to me that the clinic has been open for 50 years and all visits are cost free to parents/insurance. They even reimburse for travel expenses. I’m excited that Greyson will contribute to their research. He will continue to see these specialists until 3 years of age.

Overall, they were pleased with Greyson’s development so far. He scored above average in all areas for his adjusted age (2 months 11 days). It appeared that they were evaluating basic skills such as talking, thinking and moving. We discussed all the scores for his actual age but somehow I did not leave the clinic with that paperwork. I am going to call this coming week and verify the information that I remember. However, I can tell you he did well. I’ll post that information later as well. I always try to remember to post specifics b/c I enjoy reading this kind of information on the blogs of other preemies.

I’ve included a short video clip. This was my attempt to get him to smile at Gigi this morning before we left for the festival. It is very difficult to capture his smiles and coos on video.