Neonatal Follow Up Clinic Visit

Colby had to return to the Neonatal Follow Up Clinic at Vanderbilt on Wednesday for his 12 month visit. Just like at his 6 month visit, they asked us tons of questions about his development in three different categories: motor skills, cognitive skills, and language skills. Some of the questions that they ask are difficult to answer...they really make us think! I am looking forward to the 2 year visit, because then they will be able to actually observe Colby perform the skills rather than depend on me and Jason to answer the questions.

Colby scored well again in the cognitive and language categories. Cognitively, he is equal to 14 month olds, and with his language, he is equal to 11-12 month olds. Once again, it is always great to hear that he is right on track with these skills. In the motor skills category, we were told that he is equal to 7 month olds. Jason and I kind of expected this going in, since he is not crawling or pulling up yet. As you can imagine, though, it is always kind of hard to sit and listen to someone tell you that your baby is behind other babies his age, because to us, he is perfect!

The good news is that we can start Physical and Occupational Therapy and hopefully get him caught up in no time! The doctor told us that Vanderbilt has one of the best PT/OT clinics in Middle Tennessee, so we are looking forward to starting this process as soon as possible. Another bonus of doing the therapy at the Vanderbilt Clinic is that they will actually come to work with him while he is in the hospital. I really like that we will have this continuity.

The doctor also suggested that we start working with a nutritionist. Up to this point, we have only spoken with the nutritionist at our cardiologist's office. She feels that working with a nutritionist that is only concerned with Colby's growth and nothing else will be very beneficial to Colby. We are willing to try anything! Colby will have his first visit to the nutritionist on September 17th.