Cooper turned 7 months (4 adjusted) on February 7th!
Last week he had his Neonatal Follow-up Clinic at Primary Children's. The appointment went very well! Cooper weighed 12 pounds 14.5 ounces and measured 24 inches long. This puts him in the 7th percentile for weight and 10th percentile for height for his adjusted age (4 months). Obviously Cooper is on the small side, but the doctor said they aren't concerned unless Cooper is in the 5th percentile or lower. For someone who was born at 2 pounds, dropped down to 1 lb 12 oz, and then had two intestine surgeries and has worked hard to overcome many feeding issues, Cooper is doing so well! Micropreemies typically have a more difficult time gaining weight than full-term babies, but Cooper is doing great. His head circumference is in the 10th percentile for his actual age (7 months). Taylor and I both had large heads when we were babies, so we're not too surprised that Cooper is the same. :)
While at this appointment we met with an audiologist, pediatric nurse practitioner, and physical therapist. Cooper passed a hearing test in both ears and didn't have any sign of ear infections. The nurse practitioner spent some time evaluating Cooper and asking me about his diet, sleep, development, etc and she was impressed with Cooper! She was very kind and told me several times how wonderful Cooper looked. She didn't have any concerns after spending time with him, which was comforting.
Finally, a physical therapist played on the floor with Cooper for about half an hour and assessed his development. She had different toys for him to grab and play with, and Cooper loved it and was very chatty. :) Because Cooper experienced bleeding in his brain and has some damaged white matter in his brain, he is very high risk for cerebral palsy and developmental delays. To date I have felt like Cooper is meeting all the milestones for his adjusted age and also many for his actual age, but I was still nervous about what the therapist would think. She was also impressed with Cooper, and said that he is advanced for his adjusted age and doing a lot more than she would expect for a 4 month old!
She only had two small concerns after evaluating Cooper's development. First, while playing with him she felt like he might be favoring his left hand when grabbing, and she couldn't tell if his legs were a little stiff. (While playing sometimes his legs would go stiff and but other times they were normal.) Stiffness can be a sign of CP. Personally, I haven't noticed Cooper favoring one hand over the other while playing, and I think the stiffness may have been due to constipation. However, they were both good things to be aware of, and the therapist gave me a few ideas to help strengthen Cooper's right hand and build strength in his hips and core to help him as he learns to sit up on his own. She also recommended having early intervention assess him just because he is high-risk, and Cooper will begin early intervention within the next few weeks.
Overall, it was all very positive news! I know Cooper has been blessed by the power of so many people praying for him, and we're so grateful.
