DAC Appointment

Justin had his 6 month adjusted appointment with the DAC (Developmental Assessment Clinic) and we're finally oxygen free. The nurse practitioner checked his saturation levels and with the cannula he satted at 96 and without it he was satting at 98, go figure. But once Dr. Dubose saw his sat level she didn't even hesitate to discontinue the oxygen. So the plan is to keep our current oxygen set up at home, just in case. But if all goes well, the medical supply company will come and pick up all the equipment in two weeks. And even though Justin has been sleeping in his own room he'll be sleeping in his bassinet in our room for a few days, just until I'm more comfortable with how well he's doing off of oxygen.

Dr. Dubose felt that Justin might benefit from wearing a helmet to correct his plagiocephaly (unusual shaped head). When I told her that he tends to favor one side of his head she was concerned that he may have torticollis. Torticollis is usually caused by an imbalance in the neck muscles which prevents full range of motion in the neck. I spoke with Justin's pediatrician after his appointment so she gave me the number to a pediatric neurosurgeon at Children's Hospital. I'm going to call tomorrow and schedule an appointment. In the meantime, we plan on bringing this up with Early On when they visit tomorrow so hopefully they can give us some techniques to work with him on this.

Justin gained 5 ozs since last week so he now weighs 11 lbs 14 ozs. He fell just above the 10th percentile for both weight and length and was close to the 25th percentile for his head on the preemie chart. Just in case you noticed, last week I posted that he fell in different percentiles, but those weren't from the doctor. I was curious so I entered his stats into a website and that's what they calculated. So even though his eating habits pretty much suck Dr. Dubose wasn't concerned because he's following his own curve. And she didn't think that he was those three words that preemie moms dread to hear - failure to thrive.

Justin was also assessed by an occupational therapist who said he's behaving and performing like a 5 month old. So considering I just recently started working with him I was excited that he's only a month behind. And now that we're finally getting evaluated by Early On I'm sure he'll receive physical and/or occupational therapy which will definitely help.

Justin will get his last Synagis shot next month. I asked Dr. Dubose if that meant we had to remain in hibernation through the end of April and she gave me a funny look. In short, she said we should wait until it warms up a little bit more and the weather is more consistent. Obviously Justin's health is most important but I'm ready to start venturing out. So we may test the waters and limit our outings to uncrowded places or times when there's low traffic.

Hopefully this will be the last picture of Justin with his cannula.