Maddie’s New Normal

Maddie had her official one-year hospital checkup yesterday. This was different from the normal one-year pediatric checkup in that it’s related to her premature birth and is officially part of her premie “coverage” by the Danish health system.

At this checkup her measurements and everything were calculated not against her 2 Dec 08 birth date but her early Feb 09 due date.

And ladies and gentlemen, the state of the Maddie is strong!

As if in preparation for this visit she decided to start walking the day before. That was big enough news that I’d meant to post a whole blog entry on that topic alone. She is now officially a toddler, though she still crawls by default and only toddles occassionally. (It’s crazy to remember her dragging herself around on her stomach using only her arms; we wondered if she’d ever even crawl! – it doesn’t seem that long ago!)

Trine mentioned the things we were worried about: her bad appetite and unhappiness with solid foods, her presumably related but still alarming loss of weight, her little baby boobies that seemed a little bigger than they ought to be, and her ear issues.

She was told that Maddie had obviously had gone through a bad stomach virus and that loss of appetite and rejection of solid foods for weeks afterward were entirely normal, as were the accompanying weight loss. The fact that she has begun intermittently enjoying solid foods again – and had just the previous day eaten a record amount of rugbrød (Danish rye) at vuggestue suggested to the doctor that Maddie was well on the road to getting her normal diet back.

The little baby boobs are not at all unusual and were of absolutely no concern. (They have seemed more proportionate lately, but toward the end of last year the girl practically had cleavage!)

And her ear issue, of course, is quite common and easily treatable if it persists – though the fact that she’s sleeping better and better through the nights suggests it may, as had been predicted, be resolving itself on its own.

Maddie’s height is actually above average for her age (age from due date, remember). I can’t recall whether Trine said her weight was above or below average, but looking at her she seems much fleshier than her sister ever did, so that’s never been any kind of concern.

But best of all, and the fact that cements everything else and gives us a peace of mind I can’t begin to communicate, is that as a result of all this Maddie was officially discharged from the premie monitoring program. She is no longer under the special protective consideration of the Danish health system. She is just a perfectly normal, healthy little toddler.

Oh… new drinking game! Any time anyone speaking of their children says, “it doesn’t seem that long ago,” they have to do a shot.

(It’s not even nine here right now, so a shot of espresso will do, and I’ll go take mine with pleasure right now…)