Neonatal Development Appointment

This past Thursday, Lily had a neonatal development checkup. The nurse practitioner adjusted Lily’s age back four weeks (since she was born at 36 weeks + 6 days) while doing her assessment and was quite pleased with how she’s doing. Lily was able to track a picture all the way across (when she was only expected to go half way), stopped when she heard a sound (and it was by her right ear which has the hearing loss), and she had gained almost a pound since her pediatrician appointment just a few weeks ago. Her neck strength and control is getting better, but she is still a bit wobbly.
So- Lily is doing well. That isn’t to say there isn’t anything that could be better though. She has little arm spasms that we’re pretty sure aren’t seizures and could just be a result of the brain injury. We’ll be asking about that at our next neurology appointment unless something changes that really worries us. She also has trouble with mucus getting stuck in her throat and she gags and chokes a little on it. This happens mostly in the morning just after waking, but does happen occasionally throughout the day. Lily also arches her back and neck. The nurse said that premature babies do this, though it’s likely connected to the brain injury as well.
There’s a prayer list for you then!
Lily’s next appointment is at the cardiologist in March for an EKG and echo cardiogram to make sure that the little hole in her heart has closed up as the doctors expected it to.

Here is Lily with her big sister Sarah who turned 3 this past week!