1.5 Year Checkup

Merry Belated Christmas!!! We had a fantastic Christmas here with lots of visiting with family and friends, a beautiful Christmas service and lots of very noisy toys...thanks grandparents! :)

Wow, amazing to think that another 6 months have passed. Jonah just completed his 1.5 year developmental follow up. We again had occupational, physical, and speech therapists there, along with a nurse and a neonatologist. All said Jonah is doing fantastic! We're definitely going back at the 2 year mark but then may be done or may be asked to go back at 2.5 and 3 years. I'm hoping we're done, I'm confident Jonah is hitting all his milestones somewhere between his adjusted and actual age and in some cases is far ahead of of his goal. Here are the results. Keep in mind we're shooting for between 18 months adjusted or almost 20 months actual.

Cognitive (play skills) = 22 months
Fine motor Skills = 25 months
Gross Motor Skills = 20 months
Receptive Language (understanding) = 21 months
Expressive Language (talking) = 19 months

It's funny how much things change in 6 months. After the 2.5 hour appointment we went out to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch just the three of us then visited dad's work on the way back to our house. We wouldn't have dreamed of doing this the first time we went at 6 months or probably not even at a year due to napping schedules and germs. Things are so much fun!

I forgot last time to write about his surgical follow-up, which we'll do annually for a while. He had a chest x-ray and the surgeon said things look good. The fact that he made it through is first winter without any breathing treatments or rehospitalization means we're probably in a good spot as far as his lung function and we just have to watch to make sure he doesn't reherniat. We scheduled the next one for the same day as the developmental assessment, so that will be a long day but then we're potentially done for a whole year, yea!

As for other doctors, Jonah's regular pediatrician is delighted with how he's doing and we'll just be seeing him for regular well visits. He actually said at his 18 month checkup that you'd just never know he was a preemie. He weighs 28lbs now and weighs more than 70% of babies his age and is taller than 90% of them! Jonah's pulmonologist says no need for any more appointments unless I want one and he recommended no RSV shots this winter. Wow, who would have thought we'd be so blessed!

Just a few more photos, he's just a wonderfully happy and healthy little boy.

First time in the snow, have to love winter!

Last year might have been his "first" Christmas, but this one was a ton more fun with Jonah opening gifts and actually getting excited about the toys!

One year developmental checkup

We had Jonah's 1 year developmental appointment yesterday at Children's Hospital. He was due June 2nd so they schedule it close to that rather than his actual birthday in April. They again measured him on the Bayley scoring, asking him to perform certain tasks (in a fun way) and seeing what he could do. He enjoyed it overall as the physical and occupational therapists bring toys with them :) Speech just mostly observes and asks us questions. It took only 2 hours this time (as opposed to 3 hours for the first apt).

His measurements are:
Gross Motor: 12 months
Fine Motor: 13 months
Receptive Language (understanding): 14 months

Expressive Language (talking): 13 months

Cognitive (Play skills): 15 months

Excellent considering we were shooting for 12 months! He's actually just under 14 months based on his real birthday so we're happy he's at that level for some of the skills. We'll go back in December for another round of testing and then I think only one more when he's 2 years old.

While we were there we also got everyone's blood drawn for two research studies on CDH. One is called DHREAMS http://www.cdhgenetics.com/ and the other is called CDH Study at Children's Hospital in Boston. Both will be studying our DNA to help them identify the cause of CDH and potentially find a better way of treating it in the future. A bit of a pain and it took over an hour to get it sorted out but in the end we did walk out with the vials of blood that I'll send FedEx to the researchers.

Jonah is so much fun! He started walking about a month ago and now toddles around everywhere. We've moved our childproofing up to the three foot tall level (and learned to be on the lookout at anyone else's house :) He babbles all the time and loves to play catch and be tossed around by dad. Mom is good for cuddles when he's not feeling well, which he's not right now. He has a cold (or something) and coughs constantly. We've been assured its nothing to worry about, it just isn't any fun for him, especially since he's also cutting three teeth, two of which are molars.

On another note, my husband and I are celebrating our 5 year anniversary today. Looking forward to another 75 years or so! :)

Here are just a few recent photos, we sure are loving the summer months! Jonah isn't too sure about the grass some days but he loves being outside! Other days, he eats everything in site, grass, dandalions, flowers, bark and more :)

Our water table is another big hit, and we can hide in the shade during the hot and sunny part of the day.

And yea, no more baby food for Jonah! He loves eating big boy food, from spaghetti to just about anything else (except vegetables, which he's boycotting right now). We're not quite done with bottles yet but he does like a sippy cup of water.

Birthday Boy!

Jonah is one year old! Who would have thought a year ago that we would be able to celebrate without any tubes, wires, or worries! (well, aside from the fact that grandpa is going to feed him chocolate non-stop). He's into everything now, crawling lightning fast and cruising around furniture or using a push toy to get around the house walking too.

We went in to visit a pulmonologist at Children's back in February since our new insurance company denied RSV shots after the first of the year. We got all our documentation laid out and the insurance company decided he was elligible, score one for our team! I highly recommend appealing a decision if you don't believe it's the right call, we've only had to appeal two things but both we eventually won with persistance and documentation. Of course, we missed one month of the shots while I was arguing with the insurance company, but luckily Jonah didn't get sick. We've been really lucky this winter, two colds and an ear infection and that was it. Praise God!

Jonah had his one year checkup and since RSV season seems to be over he had a completely normal little boy schedule of shots. Four shots along with all the regular measurements, etc. He's gaining nicely on the growth chart, up to 42% for weight and 73% for length, and that's based on his actual age, his adjusted age will look even better!

We'll go in for another developmental assessment at Children's in June to measure his one year skills by occupational, physical and speech therapy. We'll also get another surgical follow up to see how his diaphram and lungs look. Wish us luck! Until then, I'll share some of Jonah's one year photos taken by the very talented Heather Beach Photography.

Can you see his abdominal scar? Yeah, barely!