9 Months Old

9 months already. Time flies when you're having fun (or inundated with Dr.'s and therapy appointments). It has been a long and sometimes bumpy road but here we are. Korbin is doing so great and I am beyond proud. He has come so far but he still has a very long road ahead of him. He is growing very well and weighs in now at about 16 lbs. He has continued to meet most of his milestones on time with some exceptions but overall he is developing well. He is a very happy baby and always has a smile for anyone who speaks to him. He has brought joy to the lives of everyone around him.

Right now, things are fairly calm. He sees his pediatrician every month for a Synagis shot to try and prevent RSV. He does very well with the shots. At the moment, we are seeing the OT and PT on an alternating schedule that allows for him to be seen once a week by one of them. I mentioned before about a couple milestones that he is late on or has missed. They seem really minor to me right now in the over all scheme of things. The missed milestone is the ability to grab a toy with one hand and transfer it to the other. I personally believe that this is caused by his hands wanting to stay fisted. We are going to be trying to fix that problem though. We have ordered him splints for his hands. They look almost like batting gloves with a stiff thumb opening. We should be getting those in soon. The other milestone that they tell me he is a bit late on is babbling using consonants. I am not too concerned about that one right at this moment but am hoping he will start soon. He is still not sitting unassisted but the therapist is giving him until February to master this skill before she marks it as late or missed. We have been intermitently struggled with solid foods but he seems to be improving.

We have a very busy few months ahead of us. After seeing the eye Dr. a couple times, it has been decided that we will schedule eye surgery at our next appt. in April. He has a lazy and crossed eye (the same eye). We have been patching his good eye and will continue to do that until his surgery. The patching seems to really be helping his lazy eye. She told me that the average number of surgeries for children who present problems before a year is 2 so this is likely not going to be our only one.

We will be going back to see the Neurosurgeon in two weeks. Korbin will have another CT scan done but this time he will be sedated as he is older now and the chance of him being still for the procedure is highly unlikely. The NS visits always make me nervous so for the next couple weeks I will be a bundle of nerves. It will be good to be able to have another discussion with him since last time we saw him it was nothing short of chaos. I will be discussing the CP issue as well as making sure that my understanding of his confirmation of Dandy-Walker Varient was accurate.

Korbin's therapist will re-evaluate him in February. They have both informed me that this evaluation will likely result in more frequent visits to both therapists. This will put us seeing them both weekly rather than bi-weekly. I believe they had mentioned something about a speech consult at some point. So far, his tone has not changed over the past few months. It is good that it hasn't gotten any worse but we were hoping that it would improve. We also discovered that he has increased tone in his cheeks. Who knew that any of this could affect the mouth? I guess it shouldn't me surprising considering the mouth is made up of primarily muscle and tissue.

In March we will be seeing the Pediatric Urologist in regards to his hypospadia. I am not sure about that appt. but assume that it will just be a consult. Also in March or possibly April we will be seeing the Neurologist again.

I have discussed with the therapists in length about the impending diagnosis of CP. Both feel that at this point a diagnosis is inevitable even if it is mild. They informed me that they don't make the call nor does the pediatrician. They told me that the Neuro or the NS would make the official diagnosis. That being said, we could be 2 weeks from it being official or 3 months. I have worked very hard to prepare myself for this diagnosis but as the time draws near, I find myself hoping that they are all wrong. I know that isn't realistic. Months ago I diagnosed him myself in my head hoping that would lessen the blow when the time came but I am beginning to think that it may not work. The therapist made a valid point when she told me that the diagnosis is just a word on paper and doesn't change anything about him or his plan of care. It is just a word. I understand what she is saying but when it is on paper it means that it is real and there is no denying it.

Well, thanks for keeping up with my little man's progress and praying for him. He is really doing so well and I have no doubt that everyone's prayers played a part. I will update again after our next round of appts. in 2 weeks.

Sabrina