Adjusted Age: 1 Day Old



So, Micah is now officially 1 day old, adjusted age.

Adjusted age? Yes. Micah will have two ages for a while, until the second fades into the world of no-longer-a-factor. Bear in mind that her due date was only yesterday. Thus, she was only actually ready to be born 24 hours ago, give or take. Everything she has done so far has been ahead of schedule. She was breathing early, seeing early,eating early, pooping early... you get the idea. Everything she has done has been early.

But, there are some things she hasn't done yet, like rolling over, crawling, walking, talking.... If we just went by her birthday (March 21st - mark your calendars!), she would probably reach many of these goals late. First, she would reach them late because her timer started almost 4 months early. Second, she would reach them late because she is having to overcome the trauma to her system caused by her premature birth. Rather than just hanging out waiting to be born, Micah has been fighting for her life. So, they use "adjusted age" to determine how far she is behind developmentally.

The idea is that she will reach goals more slowly (because of the trauma of prematurity), but adjusting our time table (expectations) gives her a fighting chance of catching up eventually. Usually, this happens within a few years. So, when we try to figure out when she might walk, talk, run for President, etc... we start the clock yesterday (her due date).

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