Doctor Visits All Around

On Friday, the kids and I went to the visit the Developmental Specialist. This visit is always a double-edged sword. We have been round and round over things like Harper's head size and head tilt, but this doctor was also the one who started the ball rolling on getting us help when Harper wasn't eating. So, going to this appointment was something that I wasn't really looking forward, especially since Tony was out of town and I was going to wrangle both kids by myself. Thankfully, my mom agreed to go to the appointment with me.

I do think that these doctor visits are the kids' favorites because they get to play pretty much the entire time and there are no shots involved! While we're at the doctor's office the kids perform random tasks while they play, like coloring and working pegs in and out of a peg board and identifying pictures of different objects. These tasks help the doctors assess Jack and Harper's growth in different areas. Remember, the ultimate goal for these doctors is to help us "catch the kids up" from their preemie age of 16 1/2  months to their actual age of 19 months. The goal is for the twins to be where they need to be developmentally by the time they are two. 

Here are the results of the testing:

Jack

Weight- 22.71 lbs.

Height- 31 1/2 inches

Head- 48 1/2 cm around

Gross Motor Skills- 19 months

Cognitive Skills- 17 months

Receptive Language- 20 months

Fine Motor Skills- 17 months

Doctor Notes: "Growing Well. Development on target."

Harper

Weight- 18.96 lbs (woo hoo!!)

Height- 30 1/4 inches

Head- 48 cm around

Gross Motor Skills- 19 months

Cognitive Skills- 18 months

Receptive Language- 19 1/2 months

Fine Motor Skills- 18 months

Doctor Notes: "Growing Well. Development progressing nicely."

Overall, it was a great visit and we're hopeful that our next appointment in December will be our "exit appointment". We shall see!  Here are some shots of the kids playing while we waited; they were all over the place playing with everything they could get their hands on.

Also, here's a picture of Miss Harper in our kitchen chair, which she climbed into all by herself Friday morning (for the very first time), and here's a picture of her sitting next to Nana- she also climbed into this chair all by herself. What a big girl!

On a different note, Abby also had an appointment with the doctor on Friday. Tony took her in on his way to the airport to have her teeth cleaned and to have a cyst removed right above her tail. Abby's surgery went well, she didn't need any teeth extracted and her cyst removal was a success. I went and picked up our patient Friday night and got her medication regimen and "cone of shame" instructions. Here are some pictures of our four-legged patient.

Abby's biggest obstacle thus far is having to maneuver about in her cone. The plastic cone gets caught on furniture, fences, and people, and it initially scared the kids. Jack, Harper, and I had a pretty lengthy discussion (lengthy for a 19 month old) about Abby and her "boo-boo" on her bottom. We looked at the boo-boo and I explained that we don't touch it- ever- for any reason. I also tried to explain what the cone was, but Jack started calling the cone a "hat", so now Abby is wearing a "funny hat". We tried a soft sided cone for a few hours, but we noticed Abby could get to her stitches, so she's back to the plastic cone. I hope that she gets the hang of it because she's got 12 more days before the stitches come out and she has to be in a cone the whole time.  

If you're a prayerful person, please say prayers for a speedy recovery for our sweet Abby girl.