23 Month High Risk Appt....

So we went to day to check up on the twins with the High Risk clinic at Children's to see how their growth and such has been going. So they were thrilled with how well the boys were doing in speech and OT. They are glad that our DDBP appt has been moved up (Thank you sweet Linda). They have acknowledged that something is up with Nate and the biting, hitting, isolating himself etc. So blah blah blah, on to the growth...

Nate: 3 months ago he was 21 lbs and he was 29 and 3/4 inches tall. Today he was 23 lbs and he was 33 inches tall. Big guy he is. At 3% for weight, 19th percent for height, and above 97% for head. If you adjust back to 20 months their adjusted age for being 3 months early, he is 8% for weight, 44% for height and over the 97th for head.

Aiden: 3 months ago he was 20 lbs and he was 29 and 1/4 inches tall. Today he was 20 lbs and he was 31 inches tall. Gained a little in height, nothing in weight. Less than 3% for height and weight for a 23 month old, and greater than 97th percentile for head circumference. If you adjust back, he is still less than 3% for both height and weight, but as for his head, it is above and beyond the 97%! Ha my kids have big heads!

We have come to the realization that Aiden is going to be small. Dad is fine with it, doctors have been fine with it.... Mom, is getting to the point where she just needs to let go and let God. I don't know why it bothers me so much. Why do I look at the numbers? Is it because they were so small to begin with? My little men are so smart. When you start to count, you will say one, they say two, you say three they say four five. They are so smart. But they are going to be small. Mom, get over it. They are healthy. Healthy kids.

1 month until their 2nd birthday. Where has the time gone?

15 Month High Rish Appointment (Failure to Thrive)

So the twins had their 15 month High Risk appointment today. It went just how I thought it would. They are switching them from Neosure 28 calorie to Pedisure 30 calorie, and they still want us to use half a scoop of bene-protein in each 8 ounce bottle. The boys are not gaining weight. In fact, Aiden has lost weight. October 14th when we were there last, Nate was 19.09 lbs and he was 27.5 inches long, today he was 19.73 and he was 28 inches long. Aiden in October was 18.03 and he was 26.9 inches long, today he was 18.01 lbs and 27.75 inches. So he actually lost weight (not much, but he still lost some). Within the next 2-4 months if they don't start to gain weight, especially Aiden they plan on treating them as failure to thrive. Kids who fail to thrive don't receive or are unable to take in, retain, or utilize the calories needed to gain weight and grow as expected. Their plan of action is to see how things go within the next few months, if not something major needs to happen. Possible feeding tubes (Lord please don't let it be feeding tubes), intensive speech and occupational therapy to help develop good eating behaviors, we will also might have to see a neurologist or gastroenterologist. Neither of the boys are on the charts right now. Even when you adjust them back to being 12 months, Nathaniel is just barely on the charts being under the 3rd percentile. Aiden is not even on the charts unless you adjust him to being 9 months old. And then when you adjust him back to 9 months he is only at 9th percentile for weight and 4th for height.
So that is where they stand right now. We are praying that the pedisure helps. We are thinking that their is some underlying reason on why they are not retaining the weight. We are just praying.

7 months

Tomorrow the boys will be 7 months old. We were at the high risk clinic on Thursday the 1st and the doctors are not happy with their growth. Aiden weighs 13.4 lbs. and is 22 inches long and his head is 15.5 inches. Nathaniel is 14.3 lbs, he is 23 inches long and his head is 16.1 inches. They are both less than 3rd percentile for their age. If we go by their gestational age which is 4 months, Aiden is 11th % for weight, less than 3rd % for height and head circumference, and Nate is 25th % for weight, less than 3rd for height, and 10th % for head circumference. Our boys are tiny. Yes they seem big since we know what they started out at, but they are very small. The doctors have started the boys on protein powder in their bottles to help bulk them up. We have the ok to start them on solids. We can feed the solids with a bottle or we can feed them by spoon and then if they are still hungry we can give them a bottle. Aiden's urine sodium is still very very low from having his NEC surgery. He is now on a double dose of his sodium a day to help get that up. On the 13th we will have 3 specialist come in the house to evaluate the boys. They will tell us whether or not they need PT, OT, or speech therapy. I am kind of excited to see the out come of the tests, but in other ways I am kind of scared. I know that they are behind, but I am not too sure how to help them with this. So that is where these people will step in. I will as always keep everyone posted.