She also "chuckles" spontaneously at her brother, toys, Tim making faces at her, etc.

 

August 8, 2005:  Theresa  tries to roll from her back to her tummy more often, and is actually succeeding (most of the time).  She is still very slow at it, and cries when she gets "stuck" but at least she is trying!

 

August 11, 2005:  Theresa was evaluated by the ECI Physical Therapist, Dana, today (she normally sees the Occupational Therapist, Joyce, for both OT and PT).  Overally, they were pleased with her progress (Dana helped evaluate her when she first started therapy through ECI) and she will now receive BOTH OT and PT on different days starting in September (Wed and Fri, respectively.)  This will help her especially after she receives a shunt, and will help progress her eating abilities and her physical abilities to have twice as much therapy.  We will continue to do her therapy the reamining days of the week ourselves.  We are starting to develop a "therapy room" for her and all of her equipment so it won't just be spread out in the living room.  So far, Nathaniel has been playing in it (we have a ball pit in there for her sensory stimulation and he thinks it is his!) 

She is cooing a lot more, saying "ma-ma-ma" and "ba-ba-ba" and blowing lots of raspberries.  She also will eat her feet a lot (not applesauce, but her toes, so my child doesn't have very distinguised tastes!!!) and can roll from tummy to back a lot, and from back to tummy sometimes (when she is in  the mood.)  Unfortunately, Theresa has began to develop her lower extremeties a lot better than her upper, and is overcompensating by "cheating" when she needs to use her arms to push herself up.  She can use her legs instead, and so her arms and shoulder girdle are very weak.  (she can't do a push-up essentially, but flips by using her toes and feet)   So, this is what we are working on, mainly, in physical therapy.

 

August 15, 2005:  Today, we are headed to TCH for an Echocardiogram and an evaluation with a cardiologist, Dr. Ayres.  She was the same cardiologist who performed her fetal Echo at TCH, and saw her in the NICU as well, so she knows her entire history.  One of the concerns (besides a follow-up from ther cardio issues in the NICU) is that when she sits for awhile, or is dangling in the excersaucer, her arms and legs, hands and feet, will turn dark and she isn't getting good oxygen flow to them.  So, we will see what her opinion is on that as well.

 

Theresa did well considering she didn't have sedation.  She mostly wanted to play with the wires and cords that were attached to her, but all in all she stayed still enough for them to get the information they needed.  It did take 2 technicians due to the fact that her heart (which started out under her left armpit while her liver was still in her chest) has now traveled all the way across her chest and now resides under her RIGHT armpit!!  Once the organs that were in her right chest were relocated, the heart took the empty space up.  So, it made it slightly more difficult for them to orient themselves when looking for specific chambers, etc.  The cardiologist said that it is functioning normally, and it doesn't care where it "lives" as long as the function is good.

 

One thing we also found out today, that both Tim and I were unaware of (ignorance is bliss!) - her heart condition while she was in the NICU was much more serious than we believed it to be.  Whether we just didn't understand how serious it was, or they were holding back, the cardiologist seemed very surprised that this was the same baby and used the word "miracle" several times in reference to how well she was doing.  She essentially told us that her cariac function at the time combined with her CDH made her suspect that Theresa wouldn't survive to come off of ECMO and out of the NICU.

 

We knew that God had answered prayers, but he was answering prayers we didn't even know to pray!!!!

 

As far as her extremeties turning dark, she said it is called Venous Occlusion, and that it happens, and it isn't even worth seeing a cardiologist for in "normal" babies.  Her cardiac function is so "normal" now that her next appointment will be between 3 1/2 and 4 YEARS old just to do a final check on her atrial septal defect when she can hold still without sedation.  Otherwise, we can cross "cardiology concerns" off of our list! :)

 

August 17, 2005:  Though Theresa likes to protest (and quitel loudly, too!) during her therapy, she has progressed so much in just the last month!  Tomorrow, we will go the Desmond Developmental Center at TCH for her follow-up evaulation and see what they think of how she is doing.

 

August 18, 2005:  This is the 2nd time this week that a form of the word "miracle" was used in reference to Theresa by one of her Doctors!  She had here evaluation at the Desmond Developmental Clinic today, and at first she was much more interested in the Doctor's name badge, the cords on the instruments hanging on the wall, kicking the crinkly paper on the exam table, etc to pay any attention to the Doctor and her "toys" that she was trying to get Theresa to focus on.  She had a red ring she wanted Theresa to follow with her eyes and look up and down, etc and Theresa was having no part of that!!!!  At first, I wanted to scream, "put her on the floor!!!" so she wouldn't get distracted, but I refrained and the doctor persisted with her "tricks" and eventually Theresa cooperated.  Then, she wouldn't babble, but the doctor said she would take my word for it.  As we were dicussing various things that Theresa does or doesn't do at home, her health history, etc.  Theresa decided to put HER two cents in, and began to coo, blow raspberries, and babble a LOT!  So, at least the Doctor got to hear it. :)

 

Basically, because she is babbling "ma-ma" and "ba-ba" and making lots of noises, squeals, etc. they can assess her Cognitive/Linguistic development at 7 months (and since she IS 7 months old, that is a good thing!), her overall motor development was assessed at approximately 6 months.  This is SUCH as relief for us, as her local pediatrician wasn't so opitismistic the last time she saw Theresa and it worried us.  Theresa has been really progressing more rapidly this past month or so, and I am glad she was assessed this week, instead of 3 weeks ago.

 

We have a follow-up appointment on Tuesday with the Neurosurgeon, so let us hope that miracles come in threes!  Please keep her head and hydrocephalus in your prayers! :) 

 

August 22, 2005:  Theresa actually rolled THREE times across the living room to reach a toy she wanted!  This is a great milestone for her.  She takes her time, and often ends up traveling in more of an arc, than a straight line, but she realizes that SHE controlls where she can go.

 

August 23, 2005:  We met with the neuro-surgeon, Dr. Dauser today.  He is always very quick (though thorough) and said that her head circumference is increasing, but not at the alarming rate that is was before.  He is also very pleased that her soft spot is still indented which shows that there is not excess pressure on her brain right now.   He said that it is too early to get our hopes up, though, but for now, she doesn't need a shunt.  We are going to schedule a CT exam and another follow-up appointment with him next month to check the fluid levels against her MRI and see where we are going to go from there.  Keep her in your prayers!

 

August 31, 2005:   What a great way to wind up the month of August!  We have had so many great things going on this month, that I am pleased to report even another great thing!  Tim tried to feed Theresa a couple of days ago, and she seemed very interested in eating, and kept opening her mouth and lunging for the food, but she wasn't sure how to coordinate her swallowing properly (since she doesn't have to do it.)  Today was her occupational therapy session, so I asked about it, and we worked on it as soon as Joyce got there.  Sure enough, Theresa did the same thing, would let the food get in her mouth, and then thrust it out with her tongue while trying to swallow it.  So, instead, Joyce used a plastic cup with watered down rice ceral in it, and we let Theresa "drink" her cereal instead.  Joyce showed me how to hold her jaw up so that the cereal would go in the back of her mouth and we waited...and she swallowed it!  We tried it again a few more time and she did quite well with it.  Later, my mom came over for a visit, and I wanted to show her what Theresa could do.  I wasn't sure if I could mimic how Joyce did it, but whatever I did worked, because Theresa "drank" this cereal as well and seemed to want more after each swallow for a few swallows!  I am so happy (I teared up, but I didn't want to cry over unspilt milk!)  Okay, bad joke, but seriously, I was thrilled.  I hope we can continue her success later with other "runny" foods in the cup, like applesauce, or pears.