Post NICU – Physiotherapy #4 @9 months corrected age

She is now chronologically one year old and we celebrated her 1st birthday😊

We were supposed to see our physiotherapist at 8 months corrected age. We were traveling and things were looking good. I figured it was ok to postpone it for a month.

When we got back, D. was 1 year old chronologically. A few days ago, we celebrated her birthday. She is very much developing like a one-year-old baby. She is rolling, crawling, pulling herself to stand holding onto the couches or anything that she can hold onto. She is not walking yet but you can tell she is working towards it.

She eats her food by herself. She has weird dance moves to the songs she adores. She bangs two objects to each other and gets proud of the sound she makes. She also likes to clap her hands when she is happy.

She uses the words “baba” very frequently for her dad and calls me “A”. She sometimes imitates the different sound types we make.

She recognizes different people and enjoys being with them. (This was an easy one to spot as we were traveling and staying in different places)

After our holidays, I emailed my physiotherapist to make an appointment. She gave me a call and asked a few questions over the phone:

Is she crawling?

Is she pulling herself to stand? (Not taking steps just pulling herself up holding onto something)

Is she making any sound?

These were the main questions she asked. However, during our conversation I already briefed her on her latest development. Some questions she did not even have to ask.

After our phone call, she told me not to bother going to her office as she does not need a full-on session. She also told me what’s coming next, which is taking a few steps and then start walking. She suggested if she starts walking in 1-2 months, this phone call would be our last and we do not have to book a session.

She mentioned that some parents still choose to go and get checked even if their premature babies start walking on time. She said it is ok if you would like to come and celebrate the moment😊

D. started walking when she turned 13 months old chronologically. And we never looked back.

Thank you, our anonymous physiotherapist. I know I did not share much with you about how emotional this journey have been and my very weird mixed feelings for all this. I rather focused on the sessions to make the most out it. But I would like to say thank you (A BIG BIG ONE) for being so accessible, helpful and positive. You mean a lot to us!