9 Months

Today Henry turned 9 months old, technically. I still see him as a 5 1/2 month old based on his adjusted age. Doctors and developmental specialists still want to consider him 9 months. The strangest phrase, which we hear over and over again, is that he will "catch up". That is, he will "catch up" to babies who were full term and born at the same time he was. I don't know why he is expected to "catch up" to babies who were conceived months earlier than he was and had the advantage of staying in the womb an appropriate amount of time. I'm happy that he has caught up to babies based on his adjusted age.

Our feeding problems continue. It wasn't quite as bad today but still pretty poor. He had less than 500ml's of breast milk, when he needs to be over 900. He had several rounds of solid food but that just doesn't make up for it. He has lost some weight and is now at 15lbs 7oz.

Tara, his Department of Developmental Disabilities care coordinator, called to tell us she can't find a physical therapist to do an evaluation of Henry through her department. Instead, she contacted the hospital that Henry was born at and they provide those services which will be covered by our insurance, hopefully. We are looking for an evaluation at this time but I don't think he has any special need of a therapist. Hopefully I'm right.

Tonight I found blood in his diaper that came from the front end, not the back end. We're not sure what this means. It could be dairy/soy allergies again. We'll call the pediatrician in the morning and see what we should do. It could be a good thing. If it can point us to what is going on with him these days that makes him not want to eat, then maybe we can get past it and he can resume growing again.

Overall he was very happy today. He had a couple of good naps in the morning. On his afternoon walk we stopped by our neighbor's house to drop off some treats for her dog who was turning 6 years old today. We ended up going in and she handed treats out to her 3 dogs and our 2. Roger almost got eaten by her big female hound dog when he strayed to close to her during treat time. I think Henry enjoys seeing new places.

Veronica took care of Henry in the morning. Grandma came by in the afternoon. Grandpa visited in the evening. Henry once again fell asleep on grandpa for a long time. He had a bath and a massage today. Rough life.