Luka turned seven months last week and five-months corrected (as in supposed-to-be) today. Incidentally he had a visit to a pediatrician this week. While we originally planned a visit to Darwin to catch up with all the lovely NICU nurses (and do some Thanksgiving shopping while there) we were fortunate to have a world-class pediatrician right here in Dili offer to see him instead. And not just anyone, as far as 'small world' goes - she is also the owner of the lovely house we rented close to the Royal Darwin Hospital all those months ago for nearly five weeks - and just happen to actually run the NICU at RDH before moving back to Dili where she works in the local hospital now.
So we weren't really super concerned about anything today, instead we just wanted a pediatrician to look him over and tell us that Luka is progressing fine and there are no issues to be concerned about, and I think we got just that. First of all seems our boy's penchant for all things tropical has bumped our boy from the 3rd centile for his age to above the 70th percentile for size and weight for a five-month old (which, if you know his parents, is a lot closer to expected than 3rd!) He weighed in at nearly 7.5kg (16.5lbs) and measured 65.5cm (25.7inches) tall. Developmentally he is right up there where he needs to be and we suspect he will be sitting any day now. We discussed matters pertaining specifically to living in Timor-Leste, like the fact that he will probably get two measles vaccinations (even though it is not done in Australia for instance) due to the high prevalence of measles here.
He still has somewhat of a light heart murmur - but apparently it is very localized and not something to be concerned enough about to get a scan for. We're scheduled to see Dr. Ingrid again in three months time, and I must say, I am rather relieved to think there is a highly qualified pediatrician just down the road ;) (even though of course we don't suspect and certainly hope, we won't have any real need for her).
So lucky us, we saved all that money by not having to fly all the way to Darwin to have a doctor tell us Luka is doing great - at the same time, I think I have had enough excitement and drama in the past few weeks to not have to walk the gangplank off the plane where I found myself in labor the last time I rushed through immigration, and to take the elevator up to the sixth floor at RDH. Maybe next time.
So we weren't really super concerned about anything today, instead we just wanted a pediatrician to look him over and tell us that Luka is progressing fine and there are no issues to be concerned about, and I think we got just that. First of all seems our boy's penchant for all things tropical has bumped our boy from the 3rd centile for his age to above the 70th percentile for size and weight for a five-month old (which, if you know his parents, is a lot closer to expected than 3rd!) He weighed in at nearly 7.5kg (16.5lbs) and measured 65.5cm (25.7inches) tall. Developmentally he is right up there where he needs to be and we suspect he will be sitting any day now. We discussed matters pertaining specifically to living in Timor-Leste, like the fact that he will probably get two measles vaccinations (even though it is not done in Australia for instance) due to the high prevalence of measles here.
He still has somewhat of a light heart murmur - but apparently it is very localized and not something to be concerned enough about to get a scan for. We're scheduled to see Dr. Ingrid again in three months time, and I must say, I am rather relieved to think there is a highly qualified pediatrician just down the road ;) (even though of course we don't suspect and certainly hope, we won't have any real need for her).
So lucky us, we saved all that money by not having to fly all the way to Darwin to have a doctor tell us Luka is doing great - at the same time, I think I have had enough excitement and drama in the past few weeks to not have to walk the gangplank off the plane where I found myself in labor the last time I rushed through immigration, and to take the elevator up to the sixth floor at RDH. Maybe next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment