The boys are ON TRACK!!!

With Eric being active duty military, we have SOOOOOOO many awesome opportunities and benefits offered to us...usually FREE!! One of those benefits is FREE health care. Womack Army Medical Center has an Early Developmental Clinic that tracks children who may have or do have developmental issues. Since the boys were preemies, they automatically qualify to take part in this program. They will see a speech therapist, audiologist, occupational therapist and physical therapist for the next 18 months, at least. Each boy saw the audiologist, occupational and physical therapists today.

Connor is a FAT BOY weighing in at 12 lbs 8oz, and he passed all of the tests they put his through with flying colors. The only concern for him is that he tends to turn his head to the right more than the left. We have to watch how his head falls when he sleeps and make sure to keep him looking to the left. They don't want his head to get flat and, more importantly, they don't want the muscles in his neck to be stronger on one side than the other. He smiled up a storm and even passed gas on the PT...way to go buddy!!!

Brandon finally tripled his birth weight coming in at a whopping 10 lbs 12 oz. He gained 1/2 pound last week alone!!! Unfortunately, he did not pass his hearing test in his right ear. The audiologist said he has fluid in his ears which is most likely the result of his reflux. He has had a few bad reflux spells the last few days, so I'm not surprised about the fluid issue. He's not deaf, and this is not a cause for concern. I'm going to take him back in 6 weeks to have it rechecked. We'll talk to the pediatrician about it at his 4 month checkup at the end of the month. The OT & PT gave us some awesome insight on his colic. While in the NICU, the nurses really limited the amount of time Brandon was held because holding him burns calories and can overstimulate him. They felt that he's being overstimulated during feeding times and not necessarily colicky. They gave us a few different things to try with him, and so far, they are working. Sight, sounds, and touch and really stress them out, so adjusting HOW we feed him has helped.

According to my due date, the boys are only 1 1/2 months old. Developmentally, they are right on target. Connor is a few steps ahead of Brandon on a few things, such as tracking with his eyes, but Brandon is by no means "behind." I'll take the boys back in mid July for another checkup. This is such an awesome program to be a part of. I'm not trained to catch any developmental issues, so it's nice to have someone watching out for the boys.

On a sad note, Eric is set to deploy on June 7 for the better part of 15 months. I attended a deployment briefing last night and obtained TONS of beneficial information. I'm starting to get just a little nervous about being a single parent, but I have plenty of support around here and I'm sure the boys and I will be just fine. If anyone wants to come out for a visit, let me know!!!
Time to catch a cap nap before their next feeding in 2 hours. They are still sleeping through the night, so please keep your fingers crossed that it will continue!