So Lauren had her one year follow-up with her NICU doctors (Newborn Medicine Dept) at St. Louis (STL) Children's Hospital this past Thursday, July 21st. We've been anxiously awaiting this appointment, as we were told previously by Lauren's neurologist and NICU doctors that during this meeting they would test Lauren and be able to analyze potential deficiencies in Lauren's brain. Since we have yet to see any ourselves, nor have any been identified by Lauren's weekly OT and PT, we were hoping for the best, but preparing for potentially concerning news...
So we went into St. Louis early in the morning (minus 30 minutes for our false start - we forgot our home medical records for Lauren, that included this whole past year's PT, OT, and pediatric visits)...and we ended up getting stuck in traffic about 1/4 mile away from the hospital. It took us about 20 minutes to go 100 yards, so Nate finally had to pull Lauren out of her car seat 5 minutes before the appointment and walk to the hospital in order to make her testing on time.
When I finally got the car parked and into the hospital, we were called back for the usual height, weight, head circumference. Lauren weighs in now at 24lbs 13ozs (93rd percentile), measuring 30.75" high (90th percentile)...and I'm lame, because I forgot what they said about her head circumference (no fuss was made though, so she must be measuring "normal").
Then we met with a Senior OT, Janice, who performed a 1.5hrs Baileys test on Lauren to analyze her gross motor skills, communication, and overall comprehension for her age (i.e. the test would be able to shed light on whether Lauren's brain sustained long-term damage from her hemorrhages suffered during L&D).
Lauren completed many, many "tasks", which you and I consider normal infant play. She was asked to: grab blocks, bang blocks together, find the hidden treat, play/push toy cars, put pegs in a peg board, pull out/put back wooden puzzle pieces, play peek-a-boo (while Janice looked for a reaction, of which Lauren obliged with a throat chuckle every time), color with crayons on paper (not so awesome at this one yet), squeezing a toy to make a sound, recognizing her own name, and recognizing words/what she's being asked and performing the act. Lauren's really good at "kiss" to her dolls, "bye-bye" with an adorable open-fist-close-fist wave...oh and much to my chagrin, she's the best at "Where's daddy?", which she nails every time.
After this sit-down playtime testing, we then went to the hospital's gym to see how Lauren gets around on her feet, and interacts with stairs, balls, large objects, children, and toys in general without being handed them. Not sure if I've said this before or not, but our Lauren is ADDICTED to stair climbing!!! She would and has done it for 30+ minutes straight. Whether at home, in the pool, at PT, at friend's houses, she will make a parent crazy by ascending and descending what feels like hundreds of times! And with me being almost 9 months pregnant and not so quick and agile, well, it gets old super quick! But God Bless her and her love for the stairs during this testing! Janice started this portion of the testing with Lauren on the stairs, and baby girl didn't want to leave! We did try to pre-warn Janice that Lauren was addicted to stairs, but I guess it's what infants/toddlers Lauren's age generally have difficulty with, so she started her out on them....and wouldn't ya know--Lauren didn't want to leave them! :) But eventually she ventured away from the stairs to check-out the new toys and children receiving PT/OT in the other areas of the room. Such a friendly little girl she is, and quite mobile since she started walking almost 2 weeks ago. She's a bit more sturdy than baby Bambi on ice now, but not by a wide margin ;0P
At any rate, Janice got to witness Lauren at play,her mobility, and interacting with other children for 20-30 minutes before we headed back to the initial testing area. There Janice scored Lauren's capabilities per the Bailey's Test guidelines and talked to Nate and I about the findings. We were feeling pretty confident at this point, because Janice hadn't mentioned anything that Lauren "should be doing" anytime during the test...but still, we were a bit anxious. So she sat us down and turned over this paper that showed Lauren's calculated age for specific areas (again, gross motor skills, ability to follow directions, communication, etc), and much to our delight, Lauren tested at or above the 12 month old level in every area. She actually had more 14 month old levels than anything, and even a 16 month old level in an area (totally can't remember it right now). What made me the happiest mother in the world is when Janice said, "you have a pretty intelligent one year old". There was no caveat, no "your kid is pretty smart for a NICU baby"...Lauren was being grouped in with just any other normal kid--which is what we've been hoping for since the day she was born - normal!
After this discussion, Janice brought us back down to see Lauren's NICU doctors to discuss the game plan from here on out. Then they said the words Nate said he's been waiting to hear since day one..."You can consider Lauren graduated from her visits with us. We have no reason to believe we need to track/see Lauren any further. Only thing we would say is that if you begin to have concerns a year from now, that you come back in and see us. But other than that, after two years old with no evident signs of deficiencies, she's graduated!". AWESOME news, absolutely LOVED hearing this!!!
So the only special visits (non-pediatrician) we have scheduled now are the 18 month and 24 month follow-ups with Lauren's neurologist, Dr. Smyser, at STL Children's. Dr. Smyser also lead us to believe that if at the 24 month appointment Lauren was still doing as good as she is currently, that we would be considered graduated from her neurology visits as well.
So all-in-all, this appointment/testing produced great news for Lauren. Again, Nate and I couldn't be happier with her progress and prognosis right now! :0) Thank you again to all of you who kept Lauren in your thoughts and prayers throughout this past year...she's doing great!!!
