9 month check-up

On Friday, we took the twins for their 9-month check-up with the neonatologist at Kaiser in Fontana.

Makayla is 27 inches long, which is the 25th percentile, but she weighed in at only 16 lbs, 3 oz (the same as her 6-month appointment!), which is only about the 7th percentile on the growth chart. I was completely shocked that she hasn't gained any weight in 3 months!! I actually think she must have lost some weight when she started crawling, because she feels like she's gained some in the last couple weeks. The doctor said she wouldn't call it "failure to thrive, YET," but is concerned that perhaps it is related to her continuing reflux. Which brings me to the next concern. The doctor is surprised she has not yet outgrown her reflux (Anthony did by this age/stage). I had thought that she'd outgrown her medication doses, but since she hasn't gained any weight, that's clearly not the problem. The doctor added a THIRD medicine to the regimen - so she's now on Prilosec in the morning, Tagament before bed, and Reglan 4 times a day. (And I've already noticed an improvement just in the couple days on the new regimen.) The doctor has also ordered an Upper GI series (x-rays where she has to drink the barium while they take pictures, to see what's going on in there), and is referring her to an allergy specialist (because she has profuse vomiting several hours after eating sweet potatoes, squash, and pumpkin). Two pieces of good news...her head circumference was fine this time, though it is in the 90th percentile, (last time it had jumped a bit too much and the doc had mentioned a possible concern), and we no longer have to use the apnea monitor!!! Yay!!

Mackenzie measures in at 25.5 inches long, which is still not quite on the growth chart, but getting closer. If you adjust for prematurity, however, her length would be at around the 7th percentile! (In the past, even adjusting for prematurity didn't land her on the chart!) She weighs 12 lbs, 12 oz, which is no where near being on the growth chart, adjusted or not. She's just sticking to her own growth curve, that's for sure. Her head circumference is just slightly below the 5th percentile (on the regular growth chart - not adjusted). Her ears looked clear, thankfully - yay for tubes!! The doctor is putting in a referral for feeding therapy, since we are still not consistently getting her to eat solids; the longer it takes her to get it down, the worse of a problem it can become with oral aversions.

Both girls now have a cold - snotty noses...oh the fun!!