Midday update (Thursday 12/11)

Carolyn reports that Max's head ultrasound revealed stable ventricles relative to last week. The NICU team were pleased and thought this development was good. Of course, the ventricles could have shrunk rather than remained as dilated as they were, but for right now we'll settle for an end to the bad news. And a further straw in the wind of potential good news: Carolyn reports that when Max is sitting up (and not crying), his fontanel is slightly depressed. This is normal, and Max's hydrocephalus had been keeping it somewhat bulging, so, again, a small piece of good news. Of course, Max's head circumference remains broadly stable.

Max was visited by speech therapist S. today, whose job is to get Max's mouth working well enough that he can feed himself rather than rely on a feeding tube. She tried a couple of different nipple styles and found one that seemed to work, although Max did not enjoy sucking and swallowing his milk and had a mild brady with associated desat and a little spitting up following the experiment. Much like his older brother (not to mention his father), Carolyn and I believe that Max simply doesn't like new things, and will warm up to eating in time.

Physical therapist A. dropped by. She thinks that Max has made great progress over the past few weeks. Carolyn asked whether she saw any signs of motor control problems. A. cautioned that it's quite early yet, but said that Max isn't showing any warning signs. (Some babies, sad to say, do have problems visible at this age.) However, no-one will Max the all-clear until he's two years old. Two months down, 22 to go!

In other news, they're stopping his caffeine. I wonder if he'll enjoy that as much as I did when I quit drinking coffee?