8 months today!

The babies are now officially eight months old today! Where has the time gone? To celebrate the big day, we took the kiddos to the big city again for another NICU follow-up appointment. It's always an adventure going anywhere with three babies so this trip was no different. To add to the excitement, we had some wet snow coming down during our drive up. Of course, there were people who were intrigued by the triplet stroller and we heard commends like "Aren't you glad you only have 3 and not 8?" and "Better you than me!" We also ran into another set of triplets - identical girls, also 8 months old, which was fun!

Once we finally made it into the exam room, each baby got weighed and measured. They also were evaluated for each of the developmental domains to see how they are reaching their milestones. I'm going to post in the order in which they were evaluated, just to change it up!

Kiera

Weight: 14 lbs., 12 oz.

Height: 25 in.

Head Circumference: 16.75 in.

Strengths: Very active, advanced social development

Areas for improvement:
-Loosening up of the shoulders (Dr. was concerned she's a bit
tight and needs to do exercises daily)

-More fine-motor practice with small objects

Jamison

Weight: 18 lbs., 1 oz.

Height: 27.5 in.

Strengths: Strong social skills, good physical growth

Areas for improvement:
-Strengthen back by doing more exercises on the stomach (He gets tummy time but is not very motivated.)

-More fine-motor skills practice

Krista

Weight: 17 lbs., 14 oz.

Height: 26 3/4 in.

Strengths: Normal neuromotor skills, very active, very cooperative and observant


Areas for improvement:
-Fine-motor skill practice

Conclusion: Overall, the babies are doing very well. In some developmental areas, they are on target or beyond! However, the Dr. feels they are all a bit delayed in some other areas, mainly in the fine-motor and cognitive domains, based on his evaluation. For this reason, he has referred all three to the Infants and Toddlers program. The Dr. thinks that Krista may not require any services but that it would be better to be proactive. Although we feel that the evaluation from today by the Dr. was not quite as accurate as what we've seen at home (the babies were having a bit of stranger anxiety and were pretty tired/cranky), we're grateful for the opportunity for a second opinion and welcome any outside services that may be needed to keep the babies on track. We will also continue working with the babies to ensure that they are progressing as they should. We'll return for another appointment in 4 months.