Once a Preemie, Always a Preemie

Anyone who has ever spent time in the NICU knows about the "NICU rollercoaster". NICU babies are super unpredictable and can be doing fine one day and terrible the next. I remember several times during our stay thinking that I can't wait until Nate is bigger and healthier and we can leave this stupid rollercoaster behind. I'm beginning to learn that preemies don't get off that rollercoaster for a long long time. It is no longer life or death situations that they face but there are still times when they take 1 step in the right direction and then 2 steps back in their progress.

PT

Nate has graduated from physical therapy for now. He is doing almost everything a normal almost-2-year-old should be doing. He's walking well, running, climbing, and trying hard to jump. He no longer has any issues with tight muscles in his legs or neck and has finally figured out how to go up and down the stairs. Yay!

ST

Speech therapy has been going pretty well. Nate is picking up more signs for different words which has made communicating with him much much easier. He can now sign more, milk, and dog. And he's made up his own signs for frog, all done, and crash. He can also tell you the sound of a fish and a lion/monster. He has finally started clapping and we're at the beginning stages of consistent waving. He's made a ton of progress over the past couple of months. We still don't have any words other than yeah and his dadadada babbling but we're working on strengthening his mouth and tongue so he can start to make new sounds. 

OT

Occupational therapy is our new major focus. Our PT suggested we have him evaluated by an OT about a month ago. She was noticing some fine motor delays as well as some other issues that she wanted to have looked at. Nate's results came back showing some pretty significant delays. They tested 2 main areas: hand grasping strength and hand-eye coordination. At 23 months, Nate is at a 14 month level for grasping and a 12 month level for hand-eye coordination. She also suggested we get Nate's vision tested again just to make sure that poor eyesight doesn't have anything to do with it. We have our annual appointment with Nate's eye doctor next month in Boise so we are going to wait until then.

The OT also did an evaluation for Sensory Processing Disorder. Here's a link to a website that explains SPD http://www.prematurity.org/child/sensory-integration-preemie.html. Many people have suspected that Nate may have SPD since he was in the hospital but this was our first official evaluation. His main areas of trouble are auditory, tactile, and oral. This explains why he seeks out the loudest toys possible, he NEVER sits still, gags when he touches something he doesn't like (like grass), and it explains his previous eating and food texture issues. The OT is confident that we'll be able to help him learn to handle the things that bug him so he doesn't have to struggle with it for the rest of his life.

Overall, we are so so proud of our little bug and all the progress he has made. We never dreamed he would be doing so well! These latest setbacks are just a short list  compared to what he's already overcome. He's the strongest person I know!