Baby Steps

As many of you already know, we have been in physical therapy for almost 11 months now and when we started therapy, Bella could not do anything!

She could not push up on her tummy, roll over, play with her toes, nothing. She laid on the floor or in her bouncy chair, stiff as a board. Literally. She was so straight and could barely bend her legs or trunk!

We have worked so incredibly hard to get her sitting (12 months of age), standing against furniture, (14 months of age) standing unassisted for 5 to 10 seconds, (last week, 15 months of age) and as of today, just shy of 16 months, Bella took her FIRST steps!!

Our baby girl who has so many odds against her - spastic diplegia, vestibular problems, behavioral problems and delayed development- showed us her strength, her determination and courage. She showed us proof that she can walk and WILL walk, and better yet, she is not even 16 months old! She has so much going for her and I can not wait to see what she will accomplish in the months/ years to come.

Enjoy her first few steps! (Hopefully we will see much more of this in the near future) :-)

[Disregard the mess!]

Catching Up

Whew! This has been one sick house!  Kallie has been sick for almost 2 weeks now, and we found out that it is Pneumonia (after 2 doctors appointments and a chest x-ray). We think it is more along the lines of walking pneumonia so that is promising, but it is also contagious!

Over the weekend, Bella seemed to be getting a cold and started coughing. She seemed okay on Monday, but on Tuesday her chest and back rattled with every breath! Needless to say, we were on our way to the doctor. It always makes me nervous when Bella gets a cold or any kind of respiratory infection. We just never know what to expect for her since her anatomy is so different. Since Bella already has one compromised airway, her nose, it makes me want to watch her breathing AT ALL TIMES.

No chest x-ray was ordered on Bella, as it would not do us any good. She is being treated the exact same way as Kallie is with a 5 day treatment to hopefully kick the pneumonia and prevent it from manifesting into a bacterial form of Pneumonia. Bella is also on breathing treatments every 4 hours for her wheezing. Both girls have been coughing so much that they make them selves throw up! It is a lovely, lovely house right now :) I can't wait to Lysol every inch of this place when they are both feeling better!

Bella has missed all of her therapy so far this week, but we are hopeful that she will be feeling well enough for her Friday and Saturdays sessions.

On a brighter note, Bella is showing some progress in therapy! With the perfect combination of balance, confidence, muscle tone and distraction, Bella can STAND!! We have been working so, so, so hard for this moment for months. She has been able to do it a few times now and even though it's only for 2-3 seconds, it's progress, BIG progress :)

Her body seems much more "ready" for standing now than it did the past few months. The next steps will be to strengthen her calf muscles and ankles, reduce the tone in her legs/trunk, work on standing on flat feet, encourage trying new things and instill more confidence so that she can stand for a longer period of time and hopefully begin to walk.

PEEK-A-BOO

I SEE YOU :-)

Hope everyone is having a GREAT week!