Micah's first pediatrician appointment

One more down! Micah saw Dr. Vargus today. She really is a nice woman and I'll stuck with her as the kids' primary physician. Micah was around 11-12 lbs when we first brought him home and :) :) He was 13lbs 3 oz today! YAY! That means that the soy is doing some good, that he's going to eventually not look emaciated, and that we're not immediately thinking any measures like a g-tube (although it's been discussed). We'll see how he does for a little while and if he doesn't keep gaining we'll have to look into that again. He really seems to have a healthy appetite and is eating between 4-6oz at a sitting, about every 3 hours (skips one feeding during the night) so about 35 oz/day. Not too bad for a little guy! (Emma's drinking 8-10 at a time but sleeps through the night so about 45 oz/day).

Micah got his first set of vaccines to catch him up. It sounds like they're going to finish up his vaccines and then do titers at the end to make sure he's had enough immunizations after they 'should be' complete. At least I think that's the plan :)

We have an order for bloodwork for him to do a CBC and thyroid screening. She went ahead and gave it to me for Arnold Palmer since I just got Brianna's re-ordered for there and that way we can just do them together. Plus she expects due to his size and malnourishment he'll likely be difficult to get a blood draw from as well.

I also asked for the AAI screening to be done for Emma and she agreed that it's a good idea to do now. She gave me those orders as she wrote up the orders for Micah's x-rays... He has an unusual curviture of the spine. When he's sitting up you can tell his lower back vertebrae are sticking out really far but I just thought it was because he's all skin and bones. Dr. Vargus took a second look. I laid him on his tummy on the table and sure enough, his lower back still bends 'up' instead of down when he's laying down. Curviture is normal, but it should be going the other direction. A little weird :) So we'll do a spinal x-ray on him and take a look at his neck just because he'll already be there. I think he's WAY too small to be able to tell anything, but... Dr. Vargus wants a look so we'll do it.

We also got referrals to a slew of specialists for him. Orthotist for his back, urologist because he is uncircumcised and will need to be, GI doctor because of his size and prior digestion issues, ENT for regular 'maintenance' of his ears, opthalmologist because he has eye issues on his chart. I can't think of anything else.

All in all we ended up with 3 vaccine shots, 2 blood draw orders (M and B), 2 x-ray orders (E and M), and a follow up for Micah for his next set of vaccines on 4/15- which is a double appointment as well because Brianna's set to go back that same time as well for her thyroid results and weight check. Also a nice little note will be sent to Early Steps to let them know that he does, indeed, have Down syndrome :). At least we're getting multiple things done at once!