Dr.'s, Dr.'s, Dr.'s....

This past week has been loaded with checkups for both Kylin and Preston.

Last Monday they had their 18 month appointment and received 4 shots (last Synagis, immunizations). Kylin is so smart, and as soon as I push the button on the elevator to go to the clinic, she begins crying and really continues until we leave. The kids did well during their exams, but we have some stuff to work on. Preston is still a wee little man at 18 pounds 6oz. and so we are going to try to push more calories into him since he burns so many running around continually all day. Kylin weighed 1oz. more than her brother and came in at 18 pounds 7 oz. The doctor was a little more worried about her lack of weight gain and so he talked about setting up an appointment for us to meet with the dietitian to talk about modifications that we can make to her diet to increase her calories as well. Developmentally the pediatrician was very happy with Kylin's progress lately with walking. He continues to comment on how well they are doing overall considering where we began. He is very good about reminding Mom and Dad that we are doing a very good job with helping them to progress and it feels great to hear him say that.

This past Thursday we drove to Minneapolis for more doctors appointments. We had appointments scheduled for all day Friday. Our first appointment was for Kylin with the cardiologist for follow-up of her atrial septal defect (hole in her heart) and her pulmonary hypertension. At has last visit we knew that she had 2 holes between the atria and septum. One of the holes closed on its' own, but the larger hole is still open and he predicts it will grow with her. For now, we are just going to follow up in 6 months and watch it, but he felt that around 4-5 years of age she would need to have a cardiac cath procedure to close it. I was so relieved to hear that it's most likely won't require an open heart procedure. The pulmonary hypertension appears to be resolved and the right side of her heart isn't large even though it is having to pump more blood due to the hold. After this appointment, we stopped by the NICU but none of our primary nurses were there and the docs were quite busy. Oh well, maybe next time.

Both kids had an appointment with the optometrist to monitor their eyes. Great news is their vision is great and we don't have to have another appointment for 1 year unless we see a noticeable change. Next we went across town to have the kids' hearing tested. We will continually have their hearing checked in the next few years since they spent time on the oscillating ventilator which can cause some high frequency hearing loss. At this point all looked great and they are hearing well. They didn't test for selective hearing loss, because Mom is sure they would have passed that test with flying colors as well.

After all of our appointments, both kids had had enough and were very crabby and tired. We went to Dad's cousin Karissa's house and had dinner and put the kids to bed. On Saturday we spent much of the day with Dad at a Rugby match and enjoyed the outdoors. After Rugby we had dinner with friends and then went to visit some more friends' of ours. The kids got to spend time with Aubrey and Ava (4 1/2 and 21 months) while we visited, and they especially loved the cat. Kylin chased the cat all over and laughed hysterically. When he wagged his tail she would giggle so hard and grab for it and continue laughing. It is so awesome to see my little girl relax and enjoy her surroundings. She is usually so cautious and nervous.

Kylin has been doing great with walking, and she is much more confident on different surfaces and doesn't get so upset when she falls down. You can tell she is very proud of herself when she is walking about all by herself.

Preston was amusing us last night before bed, he was all wound up from being in the car all day and so we let him take his time unwinding before bed. He and Dad were playing and they came up with a funny game together. Preston would run by Dad and Dad would stick out his arm and Preston would throw himself back like he got pushed backwards by Dad's arm. He showed great acting skills when he would throw himself back and then he would giggle and want to do it again.

Hopefully this week we can enjoy a little down time and get caught up at home.