I realize that I go on and on about potential developmental issues that Sol may have, but I haven’t given an actual status update recently. We have a few doctor’s appointments in the coming weeks, so I will give updates then, but for now, here’s where we’re at:

Overall: Overall, Solly is doing excellent. He’s sleeping at night – waking up just once in the night for a feeding – and is a very happy baby. He also loves eating and continues to steadily gain weight. From what I understand, other babies who’ve had strokes can have trouble sleeping at night and can be somewhat fussy, so I feel so fortunate that he’s such a smiley man. I should also note that we have no diagnosis yet. Some possible diagnoses that we may get in the near future are Cerebral Palsy, Periventricular Leukomalacia (PVL), and Cortical Vision Impairment (CVI). While all of these sound scary (please, DON’T google them!), in reality, all can be treated with therapy and the earlier we start to intervene, the better chance Sol has at rewiring his brain around them. Good thing we’re starting early!

Cognitive: Of course, we don’t know a whole lot about Sol’s cognitive skills at this point, but he is starting to show some personality. We got his first smiles and coos while in the BVI, and he’s become more and more smiley and talkative ever since. Once he starts talking (coos and goos), he’ll respond to you and start a little conversation. This stage is becoming so fun!

Gross Motor Skills: Again, hard to say since Sol is only 3 months. He is continuing to move all arms and legs, and while in tummy time, moves his legs like he’s ready to crawl. He starting rolling from stomach to back when he was 6 weeks old, and is pretty stinkin’ close to rolling over from his back to his stomach.

Fine Motor Skills: We are starting to see that Sol has a preference for his left side, particularly with his sight and hands. When presenting a toy to him, he’s more likely to grab and hold onto it with his left hand. His right hand will also hold on to toys, but it appears to be slightly weaker. No big deal since we’re seeing movement out of both hands – in fact, our PT at Georgetown says that as long as he’s able to open and close his right hand, she can help make it stronger – though this could indicate a diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy.

Vision: I’ve written about Sol’s vision quite a bit (see here, here, and here). Sol continues to present with a left-sided gaze, though every day, he continues to move his eyes to midline and the right more and more. While he still doesn’t focus on faces or objects very often or for very long, I am encouraged by this progress. We see a Vision Specialist this Friday, and she may be able to tell us if his vision is just delayed or if he has some degree of CVI.

Hearing: No problem, whatsoever, with Solly’s hearing! He hears so well, in fact, that he’s quite a nosy little fella.

Doctors: We’re still seeing a slew of doctors outside of Sol’s pediatrician. We have a hematologist who is running blood tests to make sure Sol doesn’t have a clotting disorder that caused his stroke; a neurologist who is monitoring his seizures (he hasn’t had any since October); a neonatalogist who does a general followup post-NICU; and a pediatric ophthalmologist who is helping us keep an eye on Sol’s eyes.

This week is a busy one for Sol. We have Physical Therapy today, Vision Therapy tomorrow, Physical Therapy on Wednesday, Occupational Therapy on Thursday, and a meeting with the Vision Therapist on Friday. Off we go!

Where’s that smile?

Mr. Serious

Snuggling with Mom