Sol celebrated his 2 month birthday this past week. Can you believe it? 2 months?! Part of me feels like it’s flown by while another part of me can’t remember what life was like without him.

On December 11th, we also celebrated Sol being home from the NICU for one whole month. And what a month it’s been: we’ve had visits from Aunt Jenny, Sol’s Nana and Papa, and Sol’s Bebe, Gramps, and Aunt Jenn; we had our first Thanksgiving dinner and decorated our first Christmas tree; and we’ve started our outpatient Physical and Occupational Therapies. We’ve also had follow ups with Neurology, Hematology, and Neonatalogy, as well as 3 regular check ups with our pediatrician, including our 2 month shots (ouch!). All the doctors and therapists seems to agree – Sol is doing great. No sign of seizures, he’s growing (adding 4 pounds on to his birth weight, 3 of which were gained after the NICU), and he has symmetrical strength in his right and left sides.

After I had a couple of days where I was feeling pretty sorry for Sol and over-worrying about our future, I took him to his neurologist for a check up. She was so thrilled with his progress, noting a lack of asymmetry between right and left sides and strength in tummy time. She turned to me and said, “You know, with his injuries, he should be paralyzed on one side, but you know, he doesn’t seem to favor one side over the other. His brain is already rewiring itself!” I immediately stopped feeling sorry for anyone – and stopped worrying, thanked God for all the answered prayers, and really started to enjoy my time with Sol. He’s an amazing kid and I’m so proud to be his Mama.

Outside of the usual newborn-isms (eating, sleeping, not sleeping, fussing, visits to the pediatrician), Sol’s life now involves many, many doctor appointments. On the docket are appointments with neurology, hematology, neonatology, ophthalmology, and physical (PT) and occupational (OT) therapies. Recovering from an infant stroke is not a bumpless path and we are now realizing how much work there is to be done.

This morning, we had our first follow-up with a neonatologist. When we got to the doctor’s office, one of the fellows from the NICU brought us back to the examination room. She was one of our favorites at the NICU, so we were thrilled to see her again!

Sol was very patient while the doctor examined him. We found out that while his weight and head size are only in the 3%, his rate of growth is spot on. The doctor warned us that Sol is in the midst of a growth spurt, so we should be prepared to feed him every 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Yipes!

We filled the doctor in on all of our upcoming appointments, including our weekly therapy appointments. Since Sol’s eyes have a tendency to track only to the left and he has much stronger back muscles than he needs to at this age, she walked us through some activities (laying on a beach ball, infant massage, using toys to help his eyes track to the right) that will help us counter those weaknesses. I’ve been particularly worried about his eyes, unsure of what could be causing them to rest on the left side. She said that it could be neurological, and that the neurologist and the ophthalmologist would pay close attention to his eyes. In any case, she told me not to worry about it, that the exercises we are doing in PT and OT will help until we could pinpoint the issue. Me, not worry? Yeah, right. That’s a tall order for any Mom, let alone a Mom who’s baby is recovering from a stroke. Rather than worry (too much), I’ve promised myself to direct all of my neurotic energy into Sol’s therapy exercises at home and make sure we’re doing as much as we can to move his recovery along the right path.

Last week, our baby changed. We went from having to a low key, easy going baby that only cried when he was hungry or needed a diaper change to a little crying machine. Ever see the Incredibles? Remember Baby Jack? That’s exactly what happened to our little man Sol. If you haven’t seen the movie, here’s the clip I’m referring to:

Nothing made the cute little man happy. Our usual routine of checking his diaper, giving him his pacifier, or feeding him just wouldn’t work. What’s worse, he started getting congested. The only thing that made him relax was to lay on his tummy on my chest. The next morning, we were pooped.

After no sleep and one fussy, tired baby, we packed Sol into the car and headed to the pediatrician. You see, before we’d left the NICU, the neonatalogists warned us that Sol would be susceptible to any viral infections and would likely wind up back in the hospital with pneumonia. With his fussy state and stuffy nose, everything we googled told us that pneumonia was on its way. Danger was looming just around the bend.

You know what they say about googling anything about ailments, right? Don’t do it.

We got to our lovely pediatrician who took one look at Sol and said, “Nope, he’s not sick. He’s being a normal, fussy 6 week old. Stop worrying and read this book.” We did it: we fell into the trap of being neurotic first-time parents!

Needless to say, everything is going quite well with Sol, despite his 6 week-old fussy states. We’re enjoying having Mike’s family in town – Sol loves cuddle time with his Bebe, hanging with his Auntie Jenn, and reading books with Gramps. Sol has also turned into an eating monster and is now eating between 3 and 4 ounces, every 2 to 4 hours. Last week, he was up to 7 pounds, 11 ounces – nearly 2 pounds heavier than his birth weight. We have a follow up appointment tomorrow with the neonatalogist, and I’m anxious to see if he’s gained any more weight!