We haven’t been having to go to the doctor as much as we were, thank goodness, but the kids did have 3 appointments between the two of them this week.

First was the ophthalmologist on Monday. It was a bit disheartening that I had to pay $40 in co-pays, but we do what we have to do. For K, of course, there wasn’t really anything to do but take a look. This time… she was MAD about it, too. But things there still look good and it occurred to me that I haven’t seen her nystagmus in quite a while, probably not since maybe 2 weeks after her last appointment. While I’m a bit ashamed I didn’t notice before, I guess I have a case of “out of sight, out of mind,” but it’s great that we haven’t seen it in so long. The doctor says she’s also still doing a bit of the tilting of her head when looking at something, but I personally haven’t been noticing that as much, either, so hopefully it’s on the way out the door, too.

As for E’s eyes, he shows a very slight improvement. Rather, as for his eye, since the problem is only in the left eye. Having given glasses a two week trial, we now have to start patching his right eye. He has to start with a half an hour daily increasing to a couple of hours. He HATES it, though. So far, we’ve only done it 3 times and he’s willingly taken it, but starts to complain within the first 5 minutes. The doctor said he should watch TV or play a video game while wearing the patch. I’m really not sure why those are the activities to try during that time, but I think, in part, it has to do with his concentration. If I can get him to watch something he’s interested in, he’s less apt to complain about the patch… until a commercial!

On Tuesday, K went to the pediatrician for a check-up. She is now 17 lbs and 4 oz! The doctor said she was hoping she would get to 20 lbs by the time she’s 2 years old. She said something about it being a low goal to meet but, still, it had both of us thinking “whoa!” I am SURE she can gain those less than 3 lbs before April! It would be nice if she could do it by her next check-up in October, but I’m not sure she will, maybe by the end of the year, though. So her height and head circumference are on the “regular” charts (ie for kids who match her actual age, not adjusted) but her weight still is not. On one hand, we are not surprised, on the other, we are because she eats nearly constantly. We have also been giving her a lot of this Banana Apple Yogurt stuff from Beechnut because it has 120 calories per 4 oz jar and is the highest so far. We are in the process of transitioning her to whole milk, too, so I believe that should help. She’s up to half milk, half formula now. But in no way is this girl too little. She is SOLID and, at times, feels heavy to me. She’s strong, too. It’s hilarious to watch her try to lift things that should be too heavy for her, such as a half a bag of diapers. She held that thing up for several seconds, grunting, and her arm turning red, fist white, until she finally let go. She’s determined, too!

Up next should be another renal scan for K this fall, amongst a few other tests. It’s not been scheduled yet, but when the day comes, it is NOT going to be good. She’s going to have to be sedated this time – last time she was only 5 months actual (not quite 3 months adjusted) and once the initial terror of the IV and catheter insertions were over, she fell asleep. This time it will not be so easy. One of the things they do, once they are in place with all their tubes and wires, is to strap them down so they can’t move. After all, the x-ray machine has to do it’s job. K will absolutely HATE that and so, sedation, here we come. Not to mention, the doctor has ordered a blood test to be done the same day. We don’t have to do it the same day, but the hospital is approximately a 50 mile drive one way. (I had to look that up, I’m actually surprised, I thought it was farther.) We do have a hospital here and there’s another one yet between us and the Children’s hospital, but for blood draws the doctor recommends Children’s since they’re used to working on tiny veins. Of course, the place where she was in the NICU for those 3 months is awesome, too, but once you’re out of the NICU and into outpatient lab, it’s another story. Plus, again, we’ll already be at the Children’s hospital. Either way, it’s going to be a very long and tiring day. Sedation is NOT fun, as we discovered in March with the MRI…