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Carter | 22-months-old


Carter Thomas Parete Thomson taking a swim with his dad in backyard swimming pool during Summer - Erin Michele Thomson Blog

 

He's growing fast and not giving us any time to catch up!

 

It's been a while since I wrote an update about Carter, and with so many of you (all NICU nurses, mind you) asking about him, I thought, 'why not write another blog post!'.

If you're new to our blog, our son, Carter, was born 10 weeks early, which bought him a 102 day stay in the NICU and SCN due to premature birth complications and contracting a virus right before he was due to be discharged! I was experiencing complications of Grade 4 Placenta Previa and was on an emergency flight from Dubbo to Sydney, where I spent 3 weeks in Penrith's Nepean Hospital before delivering our tiny little 1375g baby boy.

At 22-months-old, Carter is FINALLY over the 10kg mark!! And when I say 'FINALLY', I mean, he has been gaining and losing weight for the past six months, always sitting under 10kg.

Every emergency department visit, every doctors check-up.. always just under.

In 2018, Carter had a few hospital admissions.. two admissions for a common cold, where he had had issues breathing; one for bronchiolitis/asthma (they're not calling it either way -- It was explained to us that, if you're younger than 2, they won't call it asthma; older than 2, it's less likely to be bronchiolitis. However, they each have a different sounding 'wheeze' and cause different reactions.. though, in Carter's case, would have been treated the same, regardless of which one they thought it was). All short admissions, only requiring short-term oxygen.

Tauranga Mother and son Erin and Carter Thomson sharing a cuddle. Photo by Tauranga Photographer Erin Michele Thomson.

Carter is still absolutely tiny -- he's still not completely out of all his size 0's! He received so many size 2 outfits for Christmas which we're saving for next Summer.

Not to say he's not eating well though. Carter eats like his big brother.. they're both little garbage disposals. It just goes in one end and straight out the other!

Top foods for Carter at the moment:

  • Yoghurt

  • Grapes

  • Dad's Homemade Potato Chips

  • McDonalds-made Chips

  • Cheese

  • Ham

  • Mommy's Mashed-Potato

  • Salted Peanuts

  • Corn

  • Roast Chicken

  • Gravy

  • BBQ Sauce

Foods he's not liking (read: spits out and throws on floor) at the moment, regardless of whether or not it's covered in gravy or BBQ sauce -- we tried:

  • Any vegetable which isn't a potato

  • Strawberries

  • Pasta

  • Egg

  • Zucchini

He's eating more finger-food style meals and is now feeding himself when he eats things with a spoon. He's come a long way from that tiny 2.8kg, 4-month-old we brought home from the hospital and syringe fed rice cereal! (You can read about why we fed Carter solids so early in my post about his Severe Reflux, by clicking here!).

Tauranga local boy Carter Thomas Parete Thomson playing with green John Deer harvester. Photo by Tauranga Photographer Erin Michele Thomson.

Carter hasn't been on medication since before his first birthday and, although he still has to take allergy medication for wheezing and hives (which seems to come on out of nowhere), we haven't had to put him back on any of his old medications.

This Christmas was also Carter's first Christmas where he actually had an idea of what was going on -- everyone was getting a parcel of paper to rip up and eating lots of food, so we made sure he got in on the action.

Tauranga locals Carter, Havanah and Brooklyn Thomson standing in front of their Christmas tree with Christmas stockings. Photo by Tauranga Photographer Erin Michele Thomson.

With our move to New Zealand fast approaching, we're tying up loose ends with doctors appointments and final tests and check-ups.

Carter's latest check-up had him referred to a physiotherapist, an audiologist and a speech pathologist. Carter's just started walking in the past couple of weeks and still only has a couple of words, so his doctor just wanted to be sure that his developmental delay is simply due to his prematurity, rather than any underlying issues.

He's also been referred to an audiologist to ensure his speech-delay isn't due to an inability to actually hear. Although, I can guarantee his hearing isn't an issue.. the kid can hear you open a packet of chips from a mile away!

We can't wait to see how the kids adjust to their new life in Tauranga, but it's going to be difficult to go through the process of getting Carter back into the specialists he needs to see regularly. Tauranga have great access to the specialists Carter needs, and Waikato Hospital has everything we were traveling to Sydney for (with a few less hours to drive!), but it's just the draining process of seeing a family doctor, having them refer us to someone, wait lists.. stuff we've already been through.

Regardless, it's going to be an amazing lifestyle change. The next update will be some time in April.. after our move and Carter's 2nd birthday!

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