Thursday, April 10, 2008

Early Steps...

We met with Early Steps today. If the baby scores 78 or below they are eligible for the program. Avery scored 78 or below in 3 different catagories: Cognitive (78), Social (72), Communication (77). The early interventionist (Carmen) said that these scores are borderline which means Avery doesn't have any significant issues right now, just a few things that she needs to work on. I considered this good news b/c we know there is nothing to really be concerned about but since the scores are borderline they will send a therapist to my house (completely free of charge) to work with Avery for the next year. At the end of the year she'll be reevaluated and if she is eligible again, she'll get another year. And so on, until age 3. They want me to make a list of concerns for the next meeting and I'm a little confused because I don't have any major concerns. (Then again, I've never had a baby before either, so I don't know what she should and shouldn't be doing). I guess I need to do some online research about what 2 month olds can usually accomplish. When we have tummy time she lifts her head pretty well. She smiles now and then, usually after she has a full belly and burps a few times. I don't know if these count as 'real' smiles. I remember she smiled the same way very early on in the NICU. When did you write down that your baby first smiled??? Was it a social smile or maybe just a gassy smile?

Last night was a little better. I got about 6 hours of sleep. I'm trying to keep her awake during the day as much as possible, but it is hard b/c if she gets tired she gets fussy, so I hate to not let her sleep if she's screaming at me b/c she is tired!

I went to the doctor this morning. They drew more blood work to try to find out why the baby came early. The nurse told me about a woman who was very healthy and lost 3 babies in the third trimester. They tested her for everything possible and never determined why. The doctors were convinced it was some type of blood clotting (like they suspect for me) and gave her the medication to control it. She had a completely healthy fourth pregnancy, once she took the meds but they still have never ran a lab on her that didn't come back as normal. She said for some conditions there just isn't a test available yet to indicate what the condition is. I guess that is just another way of telling me "We may never know." Oh well, at this point I'm not taking any chances until we know. I had an IUD put in a month ago: so far, so good!

1 comment:

Nicki Kennon said...

In Cameron's baby book I have his first smile at about 5 weeks old. He "smiled" before that if he had gas or something, but 5 weeks was when he smiled at me while I was playing with him. What is avery not doing that the lady says she should be doing?