The Journey to Ruthie: Ruthie's 15-month stats

Ruthie's 15 month stats

Chronological Age: 15 months, 0 days (as of tomorrow)
Adjusted Age: 11 months, 2 weeks, 0 days

Weight: 17 lbs 2oz today - she recently lost several ounces and is slowly gaining it back with a lot of extra calories
Height: 28.5 inches

Head circumference: 18 inches

Diapers: still in a 3 with plenty of room to spare...I've actually debated going back to a 2

One-Pieces & Dresses: 12 months

Sleep'N'Plays (what we use for pjs): 12-18 months

Shoes: size 2s! We finally have a couple pairs of shoes..one of which she can't get off, the other...well, we're working on it. :)

Teeth: just the 2 bottom teeth still

Naps: She's finally taking somewhat of a regular nap schedule. Some days she takes just one long (2.5-3hr) nap (depending on what all we've had to do that morning out and about) and some days she takes two 1-1.5 hr naps. I can definitely live with this.

Sleeps: 7:00/7:30pm to 7:00/7:30am....that's been hard to get used to, lol

Feeds: 100% G-tube fed nutritionally, but eating SO much better! Her oral feeds are just considered "extra" for now.

Personality: It's no longer an option to run to another room to get something and leave Ruthie in the living room, expecting she'll play with a toy and still be there when I get back. Even if it's just 15 seconds, there's no telling where I'll find her when I get back. She crawls faster than I can run and she can climb almost anything (or try to and fall)....I don't sit down anymore. She's being moved from regular weekly PT to as-needed. Her weekly OT is going well - she is now eating about 1-2oz of food 2-3x/day. Not a ton, but for Ruthie it's amazing. She LOVES meat - almost any meat - ground turkey, ground beef, chicken....she also likes fruits and most veggies. She still refuses to be spoon-fed anything - she only wants food she can pick up and feed herself, and she's getting better about getting most of it in her mouth instead of her lap. Her weekly speech therapy is going well and we are starting to see some results. She has started the "babababa" sound lately - her very first consonant! Just this week, I heard her in the crib saying, "ba ba ba...bye bye, bye bye, bye bye" - I almost fell out of my chair. So exciting! Still no "mama" or "dada" but I'm sure they'll be coming soon!

Ruthie has had a week of somewhat disappointing dr appointments. Tuesday we met with her GI for a follow-up, only to find that she has lost almost a pound in a few weeks - the dr was not at all pleased. So we're upping the feeds to 5.5oz and a longer overnight feed...just when I had gotten it all organized so I could be in bed before midnight. Sigh. Such is life, I suppose. I was so happy that with her oral feedings going so well, we might be close to being able to drop a milk feed, but the dr wants her food intake to be "extra." Just when I start to feel like we're nearing some sort of normalcy, we take a step back. But I want what's best for Ruthie, so....longer night feeds, here we come!

Today I took Ruthie to her developmental peds appt with the NICU follow-up dr. This was our 4th visit and we hadn't seen him since June. When he tested her with various things in June, she was on the low/moderate risk of developmental delay. Today....high risk. He did some testing with her that I thought was far too complex for an 11-month old (he adjusts age) - such as coloring with a crayon, getting a small sugar-pill out of a little bubble container. She couldn't do it and quite frankly, I've never met a 11-12 month old that could color. He also wanted her to drop 3 cubes in a cup. Putting things "in" has always been hard for her, but I truly believe it's not so much that she can't do it, it's moreso that she doesn't want to or isn't motivated enough to do it. She did put 2 in and threw the 3rd one on the floor (classic Ruthie), then crawled away. Anyway, he scored her testing and wants to refer her for another day per week of OT to work on her fine motor delay and --- much to my shock --- cognitive delay. He thinks she functions cognitively (problem-solving) at a SEVEN-MONTH OLD level. This rocked my boat and I said as much. I told him while I respected his opinion (and I do), he sees my child for a total of 30 minutes every four months and he has no idea of what she is truly capable of. I'm with her 24/7 and I know what she can and can't do. I'll be glad to take another day of OT for extra help for Ruthie, but she is NOT cognitively delayed, and especially not to the level of a 7-month old, thankyouverymuch.

I also received a 15 minute lecture on vaccines and a bunch of mumbojumbo about herd immunity and accepting all vaccines available and autism speculations, blah blah blah. To be honest, I don't worry much about herd immunity - I worry about the one child I'm responsible for and making the decisions we as her parents feel are in her best interest. I hate being asked (by medical professionals) to explain myself in our vaccination choices and I don't like being pressured to give her 40+ vaccines (that's about what it equals out to in 4 years, did you know that?) so she can be considered part of the "herd." So eventually, I just smiled and nodded and said "okay, sure" so he would stop lecturing me about it. I'm sure when we go back in the spring and he finds out I still didn't do it, I'll get another lecture, but this time I'll take someone as moral support so I don't have to argue alone. :)