Six Months Old!

That’s how old our kids are now! On Tuesday, we were excited to realize that milestone. The babies have come so far. Earlier, I was remembering horrible morning sickness, hospitalized bed rest, 86 days in the NICU, weeks of trying to adjust to our suddenly large family, and *boom!* now they are six months old! What a happy day to make it this far!



Updates on the babies:

Over the last couple of weeks, we have brought Missouri First Steps into our home to work with the babies on their development. As preemies, they will have a unique set of challenges catching up with other kids their same age. We also had their first developmental check-up through the hospital. Generally, the kids are doing fine, but certain things will be targeted over the next six months.

Caleb will start seeing an occupational therapist once a month. He will be working on rolling, grasping toys, and sitting up with the assistance of something like a bumbo. He has been taken off of thickener because he is swallowing so much better. He is doing an awesome job scooting around on his back though! The other morning, I found him across the room from where I laid him with his arm curled around a bag of dirty diapers. Lol!

Abby will also see an occupational therapist once a month. She is already rolling from tummy to back and back to tummy, so her goals include playing with toys, sitting by herself, and *maybe* a little crawling. She was taken off of oxygen about six weeks ago, but couldn’t keep her sats up, so they put her back on it at night. We took her back for an oxygen sat check on Friday, and she was too low again, so they increase her oxygen time to include naps as well. She is now on it from 10pm-10am and then again from about 2pm-5pm. Bummer. We are really hoping that she will gain some weight and grow her lungs just a bit more so that we can lose her oxygen tanks and monitor. Other than her oxygen, Abby is really doing quite well developmentally. She rolls around, plays very well by herself, coos and smiles, and pushes up on her arms to look around.

Elijah will see an occupational therapist twice a month and a physical therapist once a month. He isn’t quite as far along as his two older siblings. He just started rolling from tummy to back this week and finally was able to push himself up enough while on his tummy to get his head off of the ground. We are proud of him for working so hard to accomplish it! He is our last baby to start doing those and definitely had a round of applause the first time he did both! Occupational therapy will work with him on gaining strength to roll and scoot. They will also work on having him sit with assistance. Physical therapy will concentrate on his neck. He favors holding his head to the right even though he can turn it to the left. We would like to see him look both ways equally and be willing to lie on the left side of his face. Happily, he came off of thickener as well. He is having to learn how to eat thin formula that isn’t the consistency of wall spackle anymore.

Ellie will see an occupational therapist every week and a physical therapist once a month. Occupational therapy will concentrate on helping Ellie to self-sooth and keep from getting over-stimulated (as you can imagine, there is quite a bit of stimulation at our house!). She will work on bringing her hands to mid-line, and grasping toys. In terms of where she is developmentally, she is coming in at the 1-2 month range instead of 3 months which is her adjusted age and the age that they use to assess her. Physical therapy will work with her legs. Ellie has some stiffness in her legs, especially in her hamstrings. She curls her feet in and doesn’t like to straighten them out. Our biggest concern with Ellie is the possibility of cerebral palsy, and we know that early intervention is the best thing that we can do if she does have it. We were told that the stiffness in her legs can be a sign of CP but that her arms seem to be doing well. However, we were also told that it is too early to know conclusively whether or not she has CP. Because of her risks, she will be monitored weekly in our home by First Steps, and then monthly or bi-monthly by the hospital. Most likely, we will have some answers when she gets to be between 9-12 months old. At the same time, she can push up on her arms and hold her head up like a champ! She’s definitely a fighter!

We have had quite a few first adventures in the last week, so the goal is to get another blog post up in a few days with LOTS of pictures and fun stories. Hopefully, I can make that happen!

--Posted by Rebecca

That’s how old our kids are now! On Tuesday, we were excited to realize that milestone. The babies have come so far. Earlier, I was remembering horrible morning sickness, hospitalized bed rest, 86 days in the NICU, weeks of trying to adjust to our suddenly large family, and *boom!* now they are six months old! What a happy day to make it this far!



Updates on the babies:

Over the last couple of weeks, we have brought Missouri First Steps into our home to work with the babies on their development. As preemies, they will have a unique set of challenges catching up with other kids their same age. We also had their first developmental check-up through the hospital. Generally, the kids are doing fine, but certain things will be targeted over the next six months.

Caleb will start seeing an occupational therapist once a month. He will be working on rolling, grasping toys, and sitting up with the assistance of something like a bumbo. He has been taken off of thickener because he is swallowing so much better. He is doing an awesome job scooting around on his back though! The other morning, I found him across the room from where I laid him with his arm curled around a bag of dirty diapers. Lol!

Abby will also see an occupational therapist once a month. She is already rolling from tummy to back and back to tummy, so her goals include playing with toys, sitting by herself, and *maybe* a little crawling. She was taken off of oxygen about six weeks ago, but couldn’t keep her sats up, so they put her back on it at night. We took her back for an oxygen sat check on Friday, and she was too low again, so they increase her oxygen time to include naps as well. She is now on it from 10pm-10am and then again from about 2pm-5pm. Bummer. We are really hoping that she will gain some weight and grow her lungs just a bit more so that we can lose her oxygen tanks and monitor. Other than her oxygen, Abby is really doing quite well developmentally. She rolls around, plays very well by herself, coos and smiles, and pushes up on her arms to look around.

Elijah will see an occupational therapist twice a month and a physical therapist once a month. He isn’t quite as far along as his two older siblings. He just started rolling from tummy to back this week and finally was able to push himself up enough while on his tummy to get his head off of the ground. We are proud of him for working so hard to accomplish it! He is our last baby to start doing those and definitely had a round of applause the first time he did both! Occupational therapy will work with him on gaining strength to roll and scoot. They will also work on having him sit with assistance. Physical therapy will concentrate on his neck. He favors holding his head to the right even though he can turn it to the left. We would like to see him look both ways equally and be willing to lie on the left side of his face. Happily, he came off of thickener as well. He is having to learn how to eat thin formula that isn’t the consistency of wall spackle anymore.

Ellie will see an occupational therapist every week and a physical therapist once a month. Occupational therapy will concentrate on helping Ellie to self-sooth and keep from getting over-stimulated (as you can imagine, there is quite a bit of stimulation at our house!). She will work on bringing her hands to mid-line, and grasping toys. In terms of where she is developmentally, she is coming in at the 1-2 month range instead of 3 months which is her adjusted age and the age that they use to assess her. Physical therapy will work with her legs. Ellie has some stiffness in her legs, especially in her hamstrings. She curls her feet in and doesn’t like to straighten them out. Our biggest concern with Ellie is the possibility of cerebral palsy, and we know that early intervention is the best thing that we can do if she does have it. We were told that the stiffness in her legs can be a sign of CP but that her arms seem to be doing well. However, we were also told that it is too early to know conclusively whether or not she has CP. Because of her risks, she will be monitored weekly in our home by First Steps, and then monthly or bi-monthly by the hospital. Most likely, we will have some answers when she gets to be between 9-12 months old. At the same time, she can push up on her arms and hold her head up like a champ! She’s definitely a fighter!

We have had quite a few first adventures in the last week, so the goal is to get another blog post up in a few days with LOTS of pictures and fun stories. Hopefully, I can make that happen!

--Posted by Rebecca