Big day, big boy

Well, today is the day. One year ago today, Finn decided he'd had enough being on the inside and wanted out of there and started an almost three month long wait to bring him home. I know you'll think I'm crazy, but I got up and took this picture exactly at 5:24. This is the moment he turned one. Amazingly, that was about the same amount of time I was with him last year at that time too, as he was whisked away to another room almost immediately. This day will have a lot less uncertainly than last year. Wow, we have a one year old. That is so crazy. Finn decided to celebrate by wanting to get up 7:30 this morning. As an example, yesterday he slept in until 10:15am. Oh, well. I guess he was just excited!

We ended up going to the NICU Follow Up Clinic yesterday. I called them back and asked if Jim had to be there and they said no. It was a great visit. Finn was a little tired because he decided he didn't need to nap yesterday (he maybe slept for an hour and a half ALL DAY!). They used the Bayley Scales of Infant Development to measure him on Cognitive, Language and Motor skills. He scored at the 9 month level (50th percentile for his adjusted age) for cognitive (how an infant perceives, thinks, and gains an understanding of the world).

He scored at 11 months and 10 months (84th percentile combined) for receptive and expressive communication, respectively. Receptive communication refers to the way a listener receives & understands a message from a communication partner. Expressive communication refers to how one conveys a message to a communication partner by gesturing, speaking, writing, or signing.

He scored at 8 months and 6 months (8th percentile combined) for fine and gross motor skills, respectively. Fine motor skills are small movements—such as grabbing something with your thumb and forefinger—that use the small muscles of the fingers, toes, wrists, lips, and tongue. Gross motor skills are the bigger movements—such as sitting and walking—that use the large muscles in the arms, legs, torso, and feet.

Overall, they were very pleased with his progress. I was kind of expecting these results. They have told us since the beginning that his social skills (cognition and communication) would be closer to his actual age than his physical. I was a little surprised at how far behind he is physically, but the doctor said it is probably due to his weak muscle tone. It isn't severe, but is very common in preemies as early as Finn was. I asked what we could do to improve, and he said we are doing it by going to PT. The Follow Up Clinic will ask Finn back in about a year. If they were overly concerned, they would ask him back in 6 months instead.

They also took his stats. He weighs 17 lbs 10 oz, which is the 11th percentile for his adjusted age. He was 25 5/8 inches, which is less than the 3rd percentile for his adjusted age. His head was 18" which is the 70th percentile for his adjusted age. So he is short and has a big head. Ha, ha!

Oh and Finn got to meet Crunch, the Timberwolves mascot, and two players yesterday on our way out of the clinic. They were there to see some kids and we were in the elevator with them. I wish I'd had my camera along. Oh, well.

Happy Birthday, buddy. You bring so much joy and laughter into our lives. I never knew how much fun having a child would be until you came along. You are a fighter and have defied all the odds to be a healthy, happy little man. I hope you continue to grow and develop and teach us how to be the best parents we can be. We love you more than anything. In hind sight even with the unexpected hardships, I wouldn't change anything from this past year (well, okay, maybe the whole breast feeding thing!). Thank you for being such a wonderful little boy.