Kymani's 2 Month Check-Up, Follow-Up on Eye Immaturity, & More!

by Lyn Lomasi, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff

All Images © Lyn Lomasi & Richard Rowell; All Rights Reserved

Kymani's two months old (actual), as of 8/8/2017! Her adjusted age is 40 weeks gestation today. How did her two-month check-up and her follow-up regarding the eye immaturity go? Read along and enjoy the photos to find out! Kymani has been home from the NICU for a little over a month now.

Eye Immaturity Follow-Up

All Images © Lyn Lomasi & Richard Rowell

Kymani had her follow-up for the eye immaturity concerns. If you follow things on Facebook, you can learn more about the eye immaturity and ROP in a post I made on July 20th. I will accept most friend requests.

At that July 20th appointment, we had discovered that her left eye was fully developed and the right eye still had work to do.

Guess what?! Her August 10th eye appointment showed that her right eye is now fully developed as well. She also is showing zero signs of ROP!

This means that her next follow-up for the eyes won't be scheduled for 6-12 more months and she also will not need the exam that involves prying the eye open next time. The following exams for the eye will be about checking for risks of needing glasses or for things like amblyopia (lazy eye).

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Two Month Check-Up

All Images © Lyn Lomasi & Richard Rowell

Kymani's weight, as of August 10, 2017 is 7 pounds, 7.6 ounces. Her height is 17 3/4". Her reflexes and reactions are strong. She's eating and growing like crazy.

Kymani is like a champion preemie. Actually, in my opinion, all preemies are strong little fighters. Even though Kymani's adjusted age would have been almost 40 weeks at her two month follow-up, she met and exceeded the two month developmental milestones. We didn't remember what was on the two-month screening questionnaire and were unsure if she'd meet the goals, since she was early. But she did just fine, not only for a preemie, but for a term two-month-old. Yay!

Now, I should note here that while this is an amazing accomplishment for a baby born at just 30 weeks gestation, parents should remember that milestone-meeting is NOT a competition, nor is it proof that anyone's baby is "better" than another. The milestones are there to help doctors  and parents estimate  how the baby is developing and whether there is anything that should be cause for concern.  If Kymani had not met her milestones, because she was born prematurely, this would not necessarily be a cause for a concern. Also, all babies develop at different rates and even some term babies don't meet all of the milestones at the same time.

Kymani also had her 2-month immunizations, of course. That part wasn't fun. She's a bleeder and a crier. She was a bit cranky the first night, but she didn't get a fever and had none of the warning symptoms. Again, she's a strong little fighter.

The doctors are still advising to fortify her breastmilk with a 22 calorie fortifier and feed via the bottle. She can suckle at the nipple a few times per day now, but only for a few minutes at each. Her feedings need to be measured, so the suckling is just to keep up the milk production. It also gives her the experience in case she is able to switch to the breast at a later date.

She still uses Dr. Brown's bottles, but now uses the stage 1 nipples, instead of the preemie size. She has grown out of pretty much all of her preemie clothing, as well as many newborn pieces. She's wearing mostly 0-3 month clothing now, except in the case where some of the clothing is bigger than the size it is supposed to be. This happens often with baby clothing.

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What Sort Of Things Is Kymani Doing Now?

All Images © Lyn Lomasi & Richard Rowell; All Rights Reserved

Kymani has started to grab at her breastmilk bottles and pull them closer to her at times. She also likes to grab toys and her pacifier. It's a good thing because Nova really wants her to play. Big sister Nova sets toys next to her, expecting her to hand them back or play. Not yet, Nova. Soon.

Kymani is awake more often than before, having periods of time where she smiles at people, grabs things, babbles, and more. Her swing, binky, and almost any blankie are her favorite soothing devices, besides mom and dad.

She can now roll over from back to tummy and from tummy to back. When she gets tummy time, she lifts her head up and moves it from side to side. She also moves around a bit like a snake or inchworm.

If she is in mommy or daddy's lap, she likes to lift her head and start to sit up. We have not tried letting her sit up  anywhere else, as she is still a bit small. It's just something she does herself on occasion. We do have an infant positioner seat when she is more ready. She is gaining more control of her head now. When she has full control of it, we will try the infant seat for practicing sitting.

She's doing a lot of things and I'm sure I forgot to mention some of them.

Basically, Kymani is a baby being a baby. And she is doing that very well.

Be sure to stay tuned for the next update or adventure and check out the rest of the recent photos in the gallery below.

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All Images © Lyn Lomasi & Richard Rowell; All Rights Reserved