Appointment Recap

On Wednesday, we took Jacob into Boston to see his Pediatric Opthamologist. They have been monitoring him since birth because of his ROP and laser surgery treatment. The doctor seemed pretty optimistic in the beginning and said babies with ROP can go either way. Some babies have horrible eye sight and side effects from the laser treatment and some babies are not affected at all. He was hoping that Jacob, like most babies, would outgrow the issues he was seeing (farsightedness) and so he had been monitoring him every three months since March. At our appointment this week, the doctor informed us he hasn't seen any change in Jacob since March which is unusual and also not very good. Jacob's eyes strain to see objects close to him and if we do not correct the problem now then we could further damage his eyesight. Long story short, Jacob needs glasses. I asked the doctor how often he needs to wear them and he said all the time. I was pretty shocked and upset by this because most preemies start out wearing them for a few hours a day and work up if they need them more. Some of you may or may not know that I wear glasses (contacts most of the time), but my vision issues stemmed from me needing glasses only to see the chalkboard at school and wearing them all the time. My vision is now horrible because I ruined my eyes by wearing them all day instead of just to see the board. I am hoping by making Jacob wear the glasses all day we will not make him more reliant on them. He also doesn't cross his eyes which is what many babies with his condition do when they are looking at an object close to them and trying to see it clearly.

In other news, Jacob's heart murmur is back. They thought they heard it again at his 12 month NICU follow-up, but he wouldn't sit still long enough for the doctor to confirm that it was the murmur she was hearing. Our pediatrician heard it at Jacob's 18 month visit this week and Jacob was very well behaved so we have confirmed that it has, in fact, returned. I am making an appointment at The Floating Hospital for Children this week for Jacob to see a Cardiologist. Hopefully it is just a benign murmur and nothing serious requiring surgery. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we head into the next challenges Jacob faces as a result of his prematurity.

On Thursday, Jacob and Grace had their 18 month and 2 month well visits. I was shocked to learn that my two month old now weighs MORE than half of what my 18 month old weighs! The good news is that Jacob has finally made it on the charts for his length. His weight and length have consistently been -3% since he came home, but Jacob was 30.1 inches which puts his height at 4% now! He weighed 21 lb 1 oz and is still -3% for weight and his head is still big (no surprise considering he is a Stewart) at 47.5 cm and 42%.

Grace, on the other hand, is growing like a weed! She weighed 12 lb 5 oz (83%), was 22.4 inches (50%) and her head was 40.0 cm (78%). I was pretty surprised at her stats given the fact that she was 4 weeks early. She is reaching all of her milestones right on target and doing well. She sleeps through the night (usually at least 7 hours!!!) and takes naps on and off throughout the day. I am very lucky that both of my babies slept through the night relatively quickly.

This weekend will be spent cleaning the house and packing for our trip next week to Tennessee! We are very excited about this trip, but nervous as well. We know Grace will do well and sleep most of the way, but we are a little worried about Jacob. He is constantly on the go and always moving from one thing to the next so I am a little concerned about how well he will do in the car. He normally loves to go for rides, but we haven't been on a trip this long since last October when he was 6 months old (2.5 adjusted). He slept most of the way last year. Part of our plan is to start driving at 4 PM and stop around 7 PM for feedings, diaper changes and PJ's. Then we will continue on until 2 AM and hopefully they will sleep the majority of the ride. If that works out as planned then we will stay in our hotel room until check-out and get on the road once lunch is over. That is usually Jacob's afternoon nap time so hopefully he will sleep for a couple of hours again. We are packing lots of board books and small toys to keep him occupied! If anyone has any suggestions on how to keep an 18 month old (14.5 adjusted) entertained on a long road trip please let me know!