Our baby will be turning 13 months old just in time for Christmas this year. We are so thankful to have him home with us, and we're so glad we don't have to visit him in the NICU. We're so excited to open presents with him, and spend time with all our families.
We had a nephrology appointment a couple weeks ago and they are very impressed with how well he's doing. His labs look great with his dehydration status, and his sodium and potassium were right on spot. His sodium was on the high end of normal and his nephrologist is thinking we may be getting close to supplementing him with diet only, rather than twice a day medication. At this appointment he shocked us all by weighing in at 18 pounds 11 ounces!! He still hasn't made it back on the charts, but he gained a pound over the course of two weeks. He's starting to get his appetite back and is eating more than he has in a long time. It also helps that mom went out and researched which baby foods had the most calories that we could make whatever he is eating much more worthwhile. His nephrologist told us that it looks like we made it without Zach having to get a g tube (a tube inserted surgically through his abdomen straight into his stomach in order to provide nutrition). Many kids with Bartter's syndrome have to get one, but Dr. Grinsell said that this usually happens by the time they turn one. We were so excited to hear this and we're so proud of Zach for being such a great eater and taking his meds so well.
Our little kiddo gets more and more active as time goes. He's a speedy crawler, has learned to pull himself up, and is starting to cruise around furniture. We think he should be walking by the time he's 15 months old (pretty good considering he was preemie), but my dad thinks he will within the next 3-4 weeks. Maybe we should take bets on that one. Just recently has learned to cover his own eyes for peek-a-boo and is doing this constantly. All we have to do is ask "where's zachy?" and he will play for several minutes. Sometimes he gets so excited he doesn't quite have time for his hands to completely cover his eyes.
Has also become very attached to mom and dad. He is constantly following us around the house and we really have to watch out for him under our feet. Just the other day I walked upstairs to get something and found him on the 1st landing of our staircase. I had no clue he knew how to get up the stairs until that day and we've had to keep a close eye on him ever since. He's really good at going up, but still trying to figure out how to get back down. The benefit to him getting more attached is that I know get to cuddle my baby more. He has been very independent and I'm so glad to get to cuddle him again. Isn't talking much and only has a few purposeful words, but can communicate what he wants most of the time.
Still can't eat table foods, but is loving baby foods for the most part. We've started him on whole milk this past week and he's doing wonderful with it. He hardly even noticed the change, but mom and dad can already feel their wallets getting heavier. We have appointments to meet with either a speech-language pathologist or an occupational therapist during one of his early intervention meetings during the month of January. Hopefully they can shed some light on his gag reflex and excessive spitting up and we pray we're nearing the end of this messy habit of his.
We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and I will follow up in a couple days with updated 1 year and 13 month old pictures, along with some taken on Christmas.
No comments:
Post a Comment