Tuesday, September 4, 2007

And The Answer Is...

It's Parks, all 14 pounds of him. He is now in the 25 percentile for his age and 90 percentile adjusted for his prematurity. They really are starting to favor one another, even though we are almost positive they are not identical. If we start having to paint their toe nails to tell them apart, then we will go get the DNA test. Wyatt is now 10 pounds and is starting to shoot up the growth chart.

Wyatt had two doctors' appointments today. The first was to a physical therapist. We have noticed recently that he is only looking to one side. It's hard for him to track object to his left or follow your voice. This is a condition called torticollis to where the muscles to one side of the neck become shorter and the other side elongated from him heavily favoring one side over the other. It makes perfect sense. Randi and I can only think of a couple times in six weeks at the NICU that he was rotated. It's onset can also be attributed to him being Saran-Wrapped in the uterus in an awkward position. Furthermore, this has also caused some plagiocephaly, which causes some deformation in the head due to constant pressure being put on one side over the other. One ear is slightly more forward than the others. We are hoping that the physical therapy will correct both conditions without us having to put him in a corrective helmet.

On a much, much brighter note, Wyatt also went back to the endocrinologist today. We have been able to successfully ween him off of all medications for his hypoglycemia. So, no more steroids and no more pricks in the heels. He has really been doing well regulating his blood sugars, and we are glad that his feet can finally start to heal. We only need to monitor any behavior out of the ordinary and we will have his cortisol levels tested before he has his hernia repair. This will tell us if his body can handle the stress of surgery.

We have more pictures, but its too late and this post is getting too long. I will post them soon.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

randi & todd,

so glad you all got so much good news today. i am so pleased about wyatt's blood sugar issues. The therapy will take care of the neck and head issues.

it is amazing how much they are resembling one another. you both are doing a great job.

love, k&h

katie said...

darn, i hate to be wrong!

wow, you guys are still dealing with so much with the boys... may God continue to strengthen you both!! i know the days can feel long, but how thankful i am that you have those two boys in your arms now!

Anonymous said...

I came across your blog from a friend of a friends website...
My son had torticollis and plagiocephaly (also in NICU with no rotation and tight quarters in the womb). He was diagnosed at three months old. With four and a half months of weekly physical therapy (the last month was every other week) and all of his wake time being filled with intentional "play therapy"...."look over here big guy, get this toy"...you know placing everything on his weaker side encouraging him to want to see what was over there...He is now perfectly NORMAL. We worked him so much through repositioning him in the crib at EVERY SINGLE NAP and using a memory foam baby thing with wedges (maybe made by Sassy from Target) and rolled blankets when he was in his car seat.
He is now 2 1/2 years old and NO ONE can tell that he ever had any "issues". In fact his head scans amaze me.
When we went in for the helmet fitting the doctor was so impressed with the progress we had made in such a short time he post poned the helmet for another visit to see if what we were doing was enough...IT WAS!!!!!! We never needed the helmet. ANYWAY, all this to say, My husband and I went through all of that with an 18 month old and the newborn son with many doctors visits, specialist, and physical therapy. I know it is not the same as twins, but it was pretty overwhelming at the time. Looking back now I absolutely believe that God blessed our MANY MANY MANY efforts poured into our little boys treatment. It was a crazy four and a half months but I believe the amount of time (EVERY SECOND) we put in is what shortened the "ordeal". I will be praying for your family.

Kristin said...

I have been reading from Jen's blog since Randi was still pregnant and have always enjoyed catching up with what is going on with your two cuties. My little one, Presleigh, ended up with the corrective helmet as nothing I was doing was as assertive as she was in being on the one side. If you want any info, have any questions, please feel free to ask! There are some pics posted on her blog as well (http://presleigh.blogspot.com) if you're interested. My email is there as well.