I know. It’s not often you hear a parent bragging about their child being average… but for the parent of a mico-preemie, average is something we often only dream of.
Think about it, when your baby starts life at just one pound twelve ounces and only twelve inches long, the thought of registering on the growth chart seems like a pipe dream. For Sam, he didn’t even register on the growth chart for weight until he was six months actual and for height until he was nine months actual. Of course, if we adjusted the growth chart to match is corrected age, he was on the chart earlier – but that doesn’t tell as dramatic of a story!
Besides, when a preemie hits two years old, the medical world stops correcting for their prematurity, so the actual age growth chart is the only one we have for Sam.
What really blew me away when I looked at Sam’s growth was the difference between his weight/percentile at two years of age and his weight/percentage just six months later.
Sam has been on this steady trajectory of being somewhere between the 10th and 25th percentile for weight. Then, in just six months, he jumped solidly above the 50th percentile line. That means Sam is registering an average weight for a boy of 30 months.
That’s right. My boy is average!
He has come a long way.
Wow he was big even for his birth weight I think? I know that sounds kind of weird but I’m a mom of a 26 weeker who was 1 lb 5 oz. He’s now 17 months and around 17 lbs. Still tiny and wearing size 6 months. Hasn’t been on the growth charts even when adjusting his age AT ALL! He’s the under 0%… it’s kind of funny him doing his own thing. We had a rough ride to begin with but he’s doing great today. Hitting all his developmental milestones for his adjusted age. So I don’t worry about how tiny he is.
Hi Nicole.
You are very right. Sam was a big boy for his gestational age. In fact, I remember clearly in the delivery room the surgeon stopping mid stitch when the NICU called down with his official birth weight. He then muttered to himself for the rest of the time he was closing me up that he couldn’t believe how big my boy was.
One of the many many ways that I was lucky.
I am glad to hear your little one is doing great. This micro preemies are strong resilient fighters!