March 2017

Arbor’s first month has been great! This month, we got a bunch of doctor’s appointments under our belt.

Arbor had a hearing test done, and passed! After failing three previous tests, I was not optimistic that he would pass this one. Praise God for good ears!

He had a visit to an eye specialist, and his vision is good. Newborns don’t have great eyesight in general, but we liked getting another goos report. On another note, the eye doctor noticed Arbor’s goopy eyes and said a lot of babies with Down Syndrome have that.. Funny because Syler and I both had that as babies.

At his one month check up, his pediatrician (who I highly recommend) said Arbor is developing at the same rate as babies without an extra chromie. He even lifted his head during tummy time.

Since doctors have been keeping a close eye on his heart since I was eighteen weeks pregnant with him, they wanted to watch him close now since about 50% of babies with Down Syndrome have heart defects. The cardiologist pointed out three little things with his heart that shouldn’t cause issues, but are not exactly the norm for most. After an echogram and EKG, he is sent home wearing a heart monitor that he wears for 24 hours before sending back. 

We had his first meeting with First Steps, so therapy starts soon! Early intervention is key since he will have developmental delays. He will hit all the milestones that any other baby would hit, just at a different pace.  

If you are wondering, Down Syndrome is not on a spectrum like autism is. Either you have it or you don’t. As an example (I made this up, so it might not make sense), say you were comparing a woman who is one month pregnant to a woman nine months pregnant. They are both pregnant, but have different challenges. The one who is one month pregnant may have morning sickness, while the woman who is nine months pregnant may have trouble getting out of bed. They are both still equally pregnant. 

Thanks for reading!

Stephanie