Checking In

Sorry for the lack of posts- we have been enjoying the holidays and now, trying to clean up the holidays. So much harder with little man wanting to be held! We have had a few follow up appointments on other issues that have come up outside of the heart defect and thankfully, all has gone well.

No surgery needed for the undescended ball- God, he is going to hate me when he knows I wrote about this. And it looks like his bellybutton hernia is quite normal and it should close up over the next 3 years. It is unlikely it will need surgery but if it hasn't closed, we will bring him back for a follow up then. Phew- a little less stress. We have gone from one major surgery and two smaller ones, to just the one.

We also met with the Fairfax County Early Intervention Services and did Liam's assessment. Of course, he was awake all afternoon and as soon as I took him out of his car seat and Alex and I walked into the child center, he crashes. Ugh! He needed to be awake so we held him while we were interviewed by the therapists and discussed his daily life, milestones so far, etc. When he began to stir, the occupational therapist spent some time checking his tone, social skills, sucking motion, etc. He ended up being more alert and thank goodness- his assessment went beautifully.

They too agreed like the therapist in the NICU that the only reason he was admitted into the program was based on the Trisomy 21 diagnosis and not his ability. In fact, at 6 weeks old, he was operating at a non DS baby at 2 months. They worked out a milestone plan, taking into account his surgery which will push him back. We will have an occupational therapist come twice a month for now to teach us how to integrate particular routines that will help his development. It turns out his muscle tone is good and not as low as some DS babies and because of his good oral motion, he should develop quite well.

On his plan, they see him keeping up with non DS children at all milestones, which was a relief to us. He is expected to be talking by next fall, taking his first steps by next Christmas. Its funny, he coos quite a bit and is very social they noted. See, all these years of being told I talk too much has paid off- my son inherited it and its going to help him.

We have the 2 month vaccines tomorrow and a weight check for the first time in over 2 weeks. Fingers crossed he did well!