Developmental Pediatrician

When the babies were in the NICU they were seen by a developmental pediatrician to make sure they were where they needed to be at 34 weeks gestation.  They were fine, but since preemies and multiples are at a higher risk for developmental issues, they told us to follow up with the doctor in a couple of months.  The doctor was pretty impressed with the babies and said we don't need to come back until the babies are 1 year old.  His initial thought was that he didn't need to see them back at all, but since they are triplets, he wants to see them one more time.  First, a team of residents came in and each one worked with a baby doing these developmental tests to see what the babies could do.  They held a red ring in front of each baby's face and moved it around to see if each baby would track it with their eyes, the rang a bell next to each baby's head to see if they would turn their head toward the noise, put the babies on their tummies to see if they could push up on their forearms, and a few other little things.  Then the doctor came in to do the same tests and evaluate the babies. 

When the residents were in the room Emily was a little angel.  She sat in Mark's lap and cooperated for all of the tests.  She loves looking at people so she stared the resident in the eyes the whole time, which meant she didn't turn her head when he rang the bell.  At home, she turns her head for noises but I think she was distracted by the new face.  She did really well for all of the tests with the resident.  After the residents left, she got fussy because it was feeding time, so when the doctor came in Mark was feeding her.  When she was half way through her feeding, the doctor had already looked at both of the other babies, so it was Emily's turn.  I was nervous because usually when you stop her feeding just to burp her she gets upset, but she did great!

Ella was not such an angel when the residents were in the room.  In fact, she screamed the whole entire time.  She tends to be very moody, so when she doesn't want to be messed with, it's best to just leave her alone, but the resident had to do the tests, so he did them while she cried or between cries.  After the residents left she fell asleep in my arms and took a 15 minute nap before the doctor came in.  When he came in and it was her turn to lie on the table to be examined, I nervously laid her down thinking she would start screaming, but she opened her eyes and smiled at the doctor and was her happy, silly self during the exam!  I guess she just needed a little cat nap. The only concern that I had was Ella's eyes.  Sometimes they cross or one of them wanders, which I know isn't uncommon for babies, but she also doesn't always stare at stuff like the other babies.  The other 2 will stare at the tv for forever if it's on but you can hold Ella right in front of the tv and she won't look at it.  She does track things with her eyes, but she just doesn't focus on one thing as long as the other 2 do.  The doctor was not concerned.  He said she probably just isn't interested in some things, like tv.  She does stare at my face for long periods of time, so I guess that means she's interested in me!  :)

Tripp was good the entire time.  There was female resident doing the tests on him and he smiled and flirted with her the whole time.  It was pretty funny.  I was very proud of him because I thought he would be the one that cried the whole time we were there.  When the doctor came in we put Tripp on the table first because he was in the best mood and he did great.  He stayed in his happy mood and cooperated with the doctor.

When babies are born prematurely, doctors usually go by their adjusted age for the first 18 months.  They start counting at the babies' due date, so technically my babies would be considered born on November 1 and their adjusted age would be 2 and a half months.  The developmental pediatrician said that Emily, Ella and Tripp don't really need their ages adjusted anymore because they're caught up with other babies their age.  I'm very proud of them!  He said that they are considered late preemies because they were born after 34 weeks (2 days after, but still).  Overall, I was very excited with what we were told, even though we knew that they were doing fine, I enjoy hearing it from a doctor who specializes in this sort of thing.