6 Month Check-Up

Olivia had her six-month check-up and shots today. The appointment went really well, she is obviously behind where most 6 month olds are because of her prematurity, but I was surprised to see that she is meeting some of the 5 and 6 month milestones. That’s awesome considering that her adjusted age is only 3 months!

Olivia’s weight was 12lbs 5 oz, which was up about 1 lb from Monday (5 days ago). I think one of those weights must be off. Because of Olivia’s BPD (bronchopulmonary dysplasia) or premature lung disease, her doctors want her to be weighed at least twice a week. That has been happening between our home health nurse visits and doctor appointments, but it’s always on different scales, at different times of the day, with different amounts of clothing. How can we really get an accurate picture of her weight gain that way? Unfortunately our wonderful insurance won’t pay the $35/ month rental fee for a scale. So we bought one ourselves, so we can actually track her weight. It really was pretty ridiculous how excited I was to get this scale! I am not sure why, but I was like a kid on Christmas when we found it at our door when we got home today!

Sorry, back to the appointment. So Olivia’s height, or length, was 21 ¼ inches, which is not even on the charts for average height kiddos, but is pretty middle of the road for an achon. Her head circumference was 42 ½ cm. and I am not sure the percentile for either that or weight. I think that they were right around 50th percentile on the achon scale.

Then came the shots! Let’s just say she didn’t particularly enjoy that! Then to make matters worse, she also had to have blood drawn! The renal clinic ordered some blood tests to be done at today’s appt. She wasn’t a big fan of that either! She survived it all though and was actually back in good spirits relatively quickly.



Olivia is starting to babble a lot, and is trying really hard to become a thumb sucker. She hasn’t had much success in the thumb department yet, but she is pretty determined. I think she’s been working on that for almost a month now. It’s just a little harder for her because with her short arms there are some positions where she can’t always reach her mouth.

Olivia has also mastered the pouty face! She sucks that top lip in, and sticks that bottom lip out farther than anyone I know! You can’t help but laugh! Check it out! We got one quick picture before she started hamming it up for the camera!





Olivia also had a visit from her Grandpa Jeff last weekend. That was the first time he had seen her since March. She was still so teeny-tiny then. Olivia got to have some snuggle time and some playtime with Grandpa Jeff.




Last but not least, Olivia has made a new friend, her pink kitty blankey!