Disclaimer: This post will contain no pictures.
Kennedy and I leave this afternoon for 3 weeks in Wisconsin. For those of you in the North, I will do my best to pack some warmer weather in my suitcase.
Kennedy starts her Intensive Therapy on Monday. Poor girl has no idea what she is about to get into. She is used to her 4x week 45 minute therapy sessions. She is about to get 3 hours a day for 3 weeks.
We are super excited about the possibilities with this therapy, but are trying not to get our hopes too high. We have decided that if she comes home doing just one thing that she didn't do before we went then it is a success! Two or three or four would be icing on the cake!!!
Also....we are excited to say that we have a new member of The Wallin Family. Jessica and Chance welcomed a little boy, Calvin Howard, on Thursday! Caden, Makayla, Cole & Connor are very excited about a new baby in the house! I'm excited that we will be there while Jessica is on maternity leave!
I'll try to post updates while we are up there.
Have a great weekend!
Showing posts with label Kennedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kennedy. Show all posts
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Lots of New Things
This post won't have pictures, but I did post some in the previous post "Blogging on the go"
The last week or so have been pretty crazy around here. First, we have decided to venture into house hunting. Our lease is up at the apartment at the end of August and it is ridiculous how much rent is and you get no tax break for it. Plus the obvious things like upstairs/downstairs neighbors, no backyard & no patio. And even though our apartment is a pretty good size as far as apartments go...a house will just give us so much more room. Half of our stuff is boxed up and/or stored in the garage. It will be like Christmas when we get to open them again!! We found a house that we liked and were going to put an offer on it yesterday, but someone beat us to the punch. I guess it wasn't meant to be. And so the search continues....
The other thing that has kept me busy this past week is setting up therapy for Kennedy. We have been doing 2x a week of physical therapy, 1x a week of occupational therapy and 3x a month of speech therapy (all 45 minute sessions). Last week her PT suggested that we look into an Intensive Therapy Program. I've posted a youtube video of what it looks like.
The Cage they show in the video is just part of the program, but it is 3 hours a day, 5 days a week for 3 weeks. She really felt like Kennedy is a good canidate for this because of several things. 1) She wants to do things. She does things that show us that she wants to move from point A to point B, just can't figure out how to get there. 2) She has made progress consistantly since we started therapy 3) The Intensive Therapy program uses pulleys, weights, etc during their sessions and those are things that currently we physically can't do at the house.
I started researching the program and saw a lot of positive feedback. There are just over 100 places in the US that use this program. Luckily, one is only about 5 minutes from us. What are the odds, right? Well, I called them and they don't take our insurance and $6300 was a lot of money! So, the research continued...Hudson, WI has a location. Awesome, but I thought what are the chances that they take our insurance when the one down the road doesn't? Apparently the odds are 100%. They take our insurance and we would only have to pay a copay for each visit. Granted that can add up too, but it will be less than 1/4 of the cost.
Avanti is 15 miles from Jessica (my sister) so we could stay with them. I was getting excited and the possibility that this may work...not only for the therapy that Kennedy would get, but also because I would get to be around my family for 3 whole weeks!! The last week has been spent going back and forth with them on insurance, prescriptions and scheduling. I talked to the lady today and paid the downpayment. Kennedy is scheduled to start on May 9th! I will book our plane tickets later today and we will be all set. My mom's friends, Jeff and Lori, have graciously agreed to let me use their van while we are up there. We would have made it work somehow, but with their van it will be so much easier on everyone. Thank you so much!!!
Her sessions will be either from 9-12 or 10-1 and the last 30 minutes are so will be spent in the pool doing aquatherpy. I am so so so excited to see what this will do for her!!!! I can't even imagine the nap that this girl is going to take every afternoon! Hopefully I can keep her awake in the car long enough to get back and have lunch before she conks out :)
We will resume our normal therapies down here in June. With the kickstart that we are hoping the Intensive Therapy will give her she should have an awesome summer!!
I'm off to look at more houses online. Wish us luck!
The last week or so have been pretty crazy around here. First, we have decided to venture into house hunting. Our lease is up at the apartment at the end of August and it is ridiculous how much rent is and you get no tax break for it. Plus the obvious things like upstairs/downstairs neighbors, no backyard & no patio. And even though our apartment is a pretty good size as far as apartments go...a house will just give us so much more room. Half of our stuff is boxed up and/or stored in the garage. It will be like Christmas when we get to open them again!! We found a house that we liked and were going to put an offer on it yesterday, but someone beat us to the punch. I guess it wasn't meant to be. And so the search continues....
The other thing that has kept me busy this past week is setting up therapy for Kennedy. We have been doing 2x a week of physical therapy, 1x a week of occupational therapy and 3x a month of speech therapy (all 45 minute sessions). Last week her PT suggested that we look into an Intensive Therapy Program. I've posted a youtube video of what it looks like.
The Cage they show in the video is just part of the program, but it is 3 hours a day, 5 days a week for 3 weeks. She really felt like Kennedy is a good canidate for this because of several things. 1) She wants to do things. She does things that show us that she wants to move from point A to point B, just can't figure out how to get there. 2) She has made progress consistantly since we started therapy 3) The Intensive Therapy program uses pulleys, weights, etc during their sessions and those are things that currently we physically can't do at the house.
I started researching the program and saw a lot of positive feedback. There are just over 100 places in the US that use this program. Luckily, one is only about 5 minutes from us. What are the odds, right? Well, I called them and they don't take our insurance and $6300 was a lot of money! So, the research continued...Hudson, WI has a location. Awesome, but I thought what are the chances that they take our insurance when the one down the road doesn't? Apparently the odds are 100%. They take our insurance and we would only have to pay a copay for each visit. Granted that can add up too, but it will be less than 1/4 of the cost.
Avanti is 15 miles from Jessica (my sister) so we could stay with them. I was getting excited and the possibility that this may work...not only for the therapy that Kennedy would get, but also because I would get to be around my family for 3 whole weeks!! The last week has been spent going back and forth with them on insurance, prescriptions and scheduling. I talked to the lady today and paid the downpayment. Kennedy is scheduled to start on May 9th! I will book our plane tickets later today and we will be all set. My mom's friends, Jeff and Lori, have graciously agreed to let me use their van while we are up there. We would have made it work somehow, but with their van it will be so much easier on everyone. Thank you so much!!!
Her sessions will be either from 9-12 or 10-1 and the last 30 minutes are so will be spent in the pool doing aquatherpy. I am so so so excited to see what this will do for her!!!! I can't even imagine the nap that this girl is going to take every afternoon! Hopefully I can keep her awake in the car long enough to get back and have lunch before she conks out :)
We will resume our normal therapies down here in June. With the kickstart that we are hoping the Intensive Therapy will give her she should have an awesome summer!!
I'm off to look at more houses online. Wish us luck!
Blogging on the go
I've installed an app on my phone that allows me to post from anywhere. Since I take a lot of pictures with my phone I'm hoping that this will get me to blog more often. We'll see how it goes. Here is my first attempt.
I was super excited when she was able to do this during therapy on Tuesday!!
She has also learned how to tear apart her play mat.
I was super excited when she was able to do this during therapy on Tuesday!!
She has also learned how to tear apart her play mat.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
January
Kennedy learned some new tricks and got a cool "toy" in January.
First she actually sat up long enough for me to walk away from her to answer the door. I was so excited! She can't do it all the time, but she is getting better every day.
She got a stander to help her with putting weight on her legs. She is in it 30-60 minutes a day. She usually watches Wheel of Fortune while she is in it. It is working great. We are very lucky that our physcial therapist has a storage unit full of equipment and toys and is letting us use this as long as we need it. It is VERY expensive if we would have had to buy it. Well over $1000+!!
She has also gotten pretty good at holding her sippy cup.
Here she is just chillin'.
And "camping" as Daddy calls it.
In January she also started Speech Therapy. If she didn't have the other issues she is dealing with I wouldn't have even thought about a speech therapist. But since she does and we are getting other services I decided not to chance her getting behind in speech. You can see her wheels turning when she is trying to copy something you are saying. She'll get there. She "talks" a lot to Danny and I, but is pretty quiet when the therapists are here. I have to show them videos of what she can 'say'....little stinker!
January was also busy with swim meets. It is nice to be home so when they are in the middle of the day we are still able to go cheer them on. District was at the end of January and his boys and girls both won. Yea Daddy!!
February update coming soon....
First she actually sat up long enough for me to walk away from her to answer the door. I was so excited! She can't do it all the time, but she is getting better every day.
She got a stander to help her with putting weight on her legs. She is in it 30-60 minutes a day. She usually watches Wheel of Fortune while she is in it. It is working great. We are very lucky that our physcial therapist has a storage unit full of equipment and toys and is letting us use this as long as we need it. It is VERY expensive if we would have had to buy it. Well over $1000+!!
She has also gotten pretty good at holding her sippy cup.
Here she is just chillin'.
And "camping" as Daddy calls it.
In January she also started Speech Therapy. If she didn't have the other issues she is dealing with I wouldn't have even thought about a speech therapist. But since she does and we are getting other services I decided not to chance her getting behind in speech. You can see her wheels turning when she is trying to copy something you are saying. She'll get there. She "talks" a lot to Danny and I, but is pretty quiet when the therapists are here. I have to show them videos of what she can 'say'....little stinker!
January was also busy with swim meets. It is nice to be home so when they are in the middle of the day we are still able to go cheer them on. District was at the end of January and his boys and girls both won. Yea Daddy!!
February update coming soon....
December
Guess I didn't learn my lesson, huh? Here is the December update.
The good thing about living in the south is that you can enjoy the park in December.
Just waiting on Mommy get the stroller ready.
She loves to swing!
This picture was just too funny not to include. I couldn't get her to look at me, but the monkey was all smiles.
Here is one of the few pictures that she cooperated with while opening gifts at our house.
We all headed to Wisconsin for Christmas. Good thing Grandma brought my jacket I left there this summer.
Here are some pictures from Grandma and Grandpas
Connor, Cole & Caden. Priceless look on Cole's face!
A little Just Dance after opening presents.
Kennedy & Jillian
Kennedy is happy 99% of the time. Unfortunately, that 1% of the time was when we wanted a picture.
Makayla tells some great stories.
January update coming soon....
The good thing about living in the south is that you can enjoy the park in December.
Just waiting on Mommy get the stroller ready.
She loves to swing!
This picture was just too funny not to include. I couldn't get her to look at me, but the monkey was all smiles.
Here is one of the few pictures that she cooperated with while opening gifts at our house.
We all headed to Wisconsin for Christmas. Good thing Grandma brought my jacket I left there this summer.
Here are some pictures from Grandma and Grandpas
Connor, Cole & Caden. Priceless look on Cole's face!
A little Just Dance after opening presents.
Kennedy & Jillian
Kennedy is happy 99% of the time. Unfortunately, that 1% of the time was when we wanted a picture.
Makayla tells some great stories.
January update coming soon....
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Medical Update
Here is the update I promised last week.
We have a new pediatrician in Pasadena that we like. She is very open to all of our questions and takes the time to talk about things when we have appointments. I never feel like we are rushed out of the room. She has referred us to Texas Children's for specialist (ophthalmology, neurology and genetics).
We met with the ophthalmologist in September and she said Kennedy does have some minor eye crossing called strabismus. It is not uncommon in babies, but she should have outgrown it by now. She is also a little more far-sighted that she would like to see, so we are looking at possibly putting her in glasses. We go back in December (maybe earlier if I change the appointment) to see where she is. If it isn't better then we are going to do the glasses in the hopes that it fixes the far-sightedness and inturn "forces" her eyes to uncross.
While Kennedy and I were on the plane on the way to Wisconsin in August a lady sat next to us and said, "Hey there little girl. You must be about 10 months old." I said she was pretty good because she was 10 1/2 at the time. She then goes on to tell me that she is a pediatrician at Johns Hopkins. Are you kidding me? What are the chances? So for the next hour we talked about Kennedy and the things she could and couldn't do as well as her trip to Northern Minnesota that they were going on. She recommended 3 blood tests (2 for muscle enzymes and one for vitamin E). She gave me her card with phone number and email and told me to let her know if I needed any help with anything. Super nice lady! We had those 3 tests done when we got back and they all came back normal. I emailed her to tell her the results and she actually wrote back to me and again told me that if I wasn't happy with the specialists we have to let her know and she would work any connections she had.
3 more things to check off the list. Kennedy's current diagnosis is benign congenital hypotonia (low muscle tone that she was born with that isn't causing her harm). Unfortunately, this condition is a diagnosis by exclusion. There isn't anything that says this is what it is for sure...we just have to rule out other things. It can be frustrating because we are constantly wondering if there is another test we can do to rule out something else. Hopefully our appointments with neurology (Oct. 21) and genetics (Dec. 9) can help us with this. We would love for nothing more for it to be benign congenital hypotonia that she will grow out of with the help of physical and occupational therapy.
I really think that God moved us to the Houston area to get the help that Kennedy needs. The physical therapist already has her doing things she was never able to do before, we have a pediatrician that we like and Texas Children's is one of the top hospitals in the country.
Speaking of therapy...she is doing really well. She was never able to do this before. In the picture the therapist is helping her with her arms, but most of the time she is able to push up on them all by herself if we hold her hips. This is a big accomplishment for her!! Of course, she always has to show off for the camera.
We also do a lot of baby sit-ups with her to strengthen her abs. Just yesterday she started tucking her chin when we do them. This is something we have been working on since the beginning. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but try to do a sit up while keeping your head back. She was making it a lot harder on herself than it needed to be. Now that she is tucking her chin she is working on those ab muscles around her rib cage which will really help her sit up better.
We have also been doing hip raises. This week she started understanding when we said 'up' that we wanted her to raise her hips. Yeh!! This made up very happy that she was comprehending things. What a smart little girl!
As of now we are doing PT twice a week and occupational therapy once a week. Occupational is very similar to physical at her age, but OT will work more on her fine motor skills like picking stuff up with her fingers and bringing them to her mouth. We have a speech evaluation in November. She 'talks' but isn't consistently saying things like mama or baba. Here is a little video on her talking to me after she ate.
Part of OT is hand/eye coordination. Who knew a balloon could be so funny and helpful at the same time. :)
She is eating some big girl food now, but isn't really feeding it to herself. I usually "help" her pick it up and bring it to her mouth. She does fine with the chewing and swallowing, just can't get it there by herself. Of course, she does have 8 teeth so I'm sure that helps.
Now that she is 1 we have moved her to whole milk and seems to be doing okay with it. We have had a couple big spit-ups but not too bad. Yea for not having to buy formula anymore!!
One of the things that we found out in the MRI she had this summer was that she had low mylin (fat around her neurons). The more mylin you have the better the motor skills. They can't really tell if her motor skills are low so her mylin is low or if she has low motor skills because her mylin is low. The doctor told us that DHA can help develop mylin so we have tried to find foods that have DHA in them. Formula was her big source of this, so now that we moved to milk I had to do some research. I searched for toddler foods with DHA and found that Horizon makes an organic milk w/ DHA. Bonus, except that it is more expensive (still cheaper than formula though)! They also make a yogurt called yotoddler that has it as well. Plus a lot of the organic Gerber baby foods have DHA in them. I think we have her covered now. One of those things that can't hurt and hopefully will help.
So that is where we are for now. Hopefully by Thanksgiving and Christmas when we see a lot of you she will have a lot more "tricks" to share with everyone.
Here are a few more pics since her birthday.
We have a new pediatrician in Pasadena that we like. She is very open to all of our questions and takes the time to talk about things when we have appointments. I never feel like we are rushed out of the room. She has referred us to Texas Children's for specialist (ophthalmology, neurology and genetics).
We met with the ophthalmologist in September and she said Kennedy does have some minor eye crossing called strabismus. It is not uncommon in babies, but she should have outgrown it by now. She is also a little more far-sighted that she would like to see, so we are looking at possibly putting her in glasses. We go back in December (maybe earlier if I change the appointment) to see where she is. If it isn't better then we are going to do the glasses in the hopes that it fixes the far-sightedness and inturn "forces" her eyes to uncross.
While Kennedy and I were on the plane on the way to Wisconsin in August a lady sat next to us and said, "Hey there little girl. You must be about 10 months old." I said she was pretty good because she was 10 1/2 at the time. She then goes on to tell me that she is a pediatrician at Johns Hopkins. Are you kidding me? What are the chances? So for the next hour we talked about Kennedy and the things she could and couldn't do as well as her trip to Northern Minnesota that they were going on. She recommended 3 blood tests (2 for muscle enzymes and one for vitamin E). She gave me her card with phone number and email and told me to let her know if I needed any help with anything. Super nice lady! We had those 3 tests done when we got back and they all came back normal. I emailed her to tell her the results and she actually wrote back to me and again told me that if I wasn't happy with the specialists we have to let her know and she would work any connections she had.
3 more things to check off the list. Kennedy's current diagnosis is benign congenital hypotonia (low muscle tone that she was born with that isn't causing her harm). Unfortunately, this condition is a diagnosis by exclusion. There isn't anything that says this is what it is for sure...we just have to rule out other things. It can be frustrating because we are constantly wondering if there is another test we can do to rule out something else. Hopefully our appointments with neurology (Oct. 21) and genetics (Dec. 9) can help us with this. We would love for nothing more for it to be benign congenital hypotonia that she will grow out of with the help of physical and occupational therapy.
I really think that God moved us to the Houston area to get the help that Kennedy needs. The physical therapist already has her doing things she was never able to do before, we have a pediatrician that we like and Texas Children's is one of the top hospitals in the country.
Speaking of therapy...she is doing really well. She was never able to do this before. In the picture the therapist is helping her with her arms, but most of the time she is able to push up on them all by herself if we hold her hips. This is a big accomplishment for her!! Of course, she always has to show off for the camera.
We also do a lot of baby sit-ups with her to strengthen her abs. Just yesterday she started tucking her chin when we do them. This is something we have been working on since the beginning. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but try to do a sit up while keeping your head back. She was making it a lot harder on herself than it needed to be. Now that she is tucking her chin she is working on those ab muscles around her rib cage which will really help her sit up better.
We have also been doing hip raises. This week she started understanding when we said 'up' that we wanted her to raise her hips. Yeh!! This made up very happy that she was comprehending things. What a smart little girl!
As of now we are doing PT twice a week and occupational therapy once a week. Occupational is very similar to physical at her age, but OT will work more on her fine motor skills like picking stuff up with her fingers and bringing them to her mouth. We have a speech evaluation in November. She 'talks' but isn't consistently saying things like mama or baba. Here is a little video on her talking to me after she ate.
Part of OT is hand/eye coordination. Who knew a balloon could be so funny and helpful at the same time. :)
She is eating some big girl food now, but isn't really feeding it to herself. I usually "help" her pick it up and bring it to her mouth. She does fine with the chewing and swallowing, just can't get it there by herself. Of course, she does have 8 teeth so I'm sure that helps.
Now that she is 1 we have moved her to whole milk and seems to be doing okay with it. We have had a couple big spit-ups but not too bad. Yea for not having to buy formula anymore!!
One of the things that we found out in the MRI she had this summer was that she had low mylin (fat around her neurons). The more mylin you have the better the motor skills. They can't really tell if her motor skills are low so her mylin is low or if she has low motor skills because her mylin is low. The doctor told us that DHA can help develop mylin so we have tried to find foods that have DHA in them. Formula was her big source of this, so now that we moved to milk I had to do some research. I searched for toddler foods with DHA and found that Horizon makes an organic milk w/ DHA. Bonus, except that it is more expensive (still cheaper than formula though)! They also make a yogurt called yotoddler that has it as well. Plus a lot of the organic Gerber baby foods have DHA in them. I think we have her covered now. One of those things that can't hurt and hopefully will help.
So that is where we are for now. Hopefully by Thanksgiving and Christmas when we see a lot of you she will have a lot more "tricks" to share with everyone.
Here are a few more pics since her birthday.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Kennedy turns ONE!
I can't believe it has been a year already...actually a year and 35 minutes. :)
We had a good day today if you take out the part about the shots at the doctor this morning. I know, I know...who schedules shots on the actual birthday? Oops! She weighs 19 pounds and got a good report from the doctor aside from the obvious things we are still working on with PT and OT.
After the doctor we went shopping at Kohls with a giftcard Danny's mom sent her. She got some much needed 18 month clothes and the blocks you'll see in the pictures. Then we got Chick-fil-A and brought Danny lunch up at school. It was nice to see him in the middle of the day. We need to do that more often. Then it was a quick stop at Walmart to pick up cake. After that it was lunch time for Kennedy and then a nap. The evening was a lot of fun as you will see in the pictures. She wasn't quite sure what to think at first. She didn't like the feeling of the frosting on her hands at all! After she got over that she went to town. Kennedy, the cloth cover (that I forgot to take off beforehand) and the highchair all got a bath after it was all over. Everyone (and everything) is all clean now :)
Danny has his first swim meet tomorrow and Kennedy and I are going to go to the Farmer's Market before we head over to the meet. Definitly a fun weekend.
Like I said...I can't believe out baby girl is one. I got an email today from babycenter.com and it said "Your Toddler" - where did the last year go??
I'll update in the next few days about Kennedy's medical updates. Today is all about her Birthday!!
Can you believe that Walmart only charged me a penny for that cute cupcake 1st birthday cake? It wasn't a mistake. They told me it was free when I ordered it but I guess they can't just give it away.
This is awesome...I can't wait for Christmas!
BEFORE
DURING
AFTER
She apparently thought that Daddy needed some 'hair gel' :)
We had a good day today if you take out the part about the shots at the doctor this morning. I know, I know...who schedules shots on the actual birthday? Oops! She weighs 19 pounds and got a good report from the doctor aside from the obvious things we are still working on with PT and OT.
After the doctor we went shopping at Kohls with a giftcard Danny's mom sent her. She got some much needed 18 month clothes and the blocks you'll see in the pictures. Then we got Chick-fil-A and brought Danny lunch up at school. It was nice to see him in the middle of the day. We need to do that more often. Then it was a quick stop at Walmart to pick up cake. After that it was lunch time for Kennedy and then a nap. The evening was a lot of fun as you will see in the pictures. She wasn't quite sure what to think at first. She didn't like the feeling of the frosting on her hands at all! After she got over that she went to town. Kennedy, the cloth cover (that I forgot to take off beforehand) and the highchair all got a bath after it was all over. Everyone (and everything) is all clean now :)
Danny has his first swim meet tomorrow and Kennedy and I are going to go to the Farmer's Market before we head over to the meet. Definitly a fun weekend.
Like I said...I can't believe out baby girl is one. I got an email today from babycenter.com and it said "Your Toddler" - where did the last year go??
I'll update in the next few days about Kennedy's medical updates. Today is all about her Birthday!!
Can you believe that Walmart only charged me a penny for that cute cupcake 1st birthday cake? It wasn't a mistake. They told me it was free when I ordered it but I guess they can't just give it away.
This is awesome...I can't wait for Christmas!
BEFORE
DURING
AFTER
She apparently thought that Daddy needed some 'hair gel' :)
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Just a few pictures
For those Blog Stalkers out there. As you can see on a lot of the pictures, she knows when the camera is out and shows off her smile for me!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Update
Sorry it has been so long. As some of you already know we have had a crazy few weeks. Here is the update (or news for some of you).
In March I took Kennedy into her pediatrician because we felt she wasn't doing very well with holding her head up. We tried not to compare her to other kids her age (and there are quite a few friends with babies within 2 weeks of her) and just figured she was on the later end of the "normal" range on milestones. Her ped referred us to a neurologist and said she had hypotonia (low muscle tone). We met with neuro doc at the beginning of April and he said she was just behind and that she didn't have hypotonia. He did order an abdominal xray and ultrasound to rule out a condition that may cause her head bobbing. All of that came back clear so we were told to just see if it got better and come back mid-May. When we went back he diagnosed her with benign head titubations and order physical therapy and said to come back August 31st. He didn't think an MRI was worth the risk (she would have to be put under so she would stay still). Again wait and see. We were beginning to question this wait and see approach that everyone seemed to be taking. She had her PT evaluation on June 2 and we are now going twice a week. At her first real session we asked the therapist how far behind she thought Kennedy was and she told us that in her 15 years experience she would be really surprised if it was just delay. So....we made an appointment with her ped that afternoon and he called neuro again. We got a call that said he would order the MRI even though he didn't think it was necessary. Although we were glad to have an MRI appointment (July 19th) this wasn't really what we had talked to the ped about...he was supposed to get us in with a different neuro doc for a 2nd opinion. Needless to say we weren't real happy with his so on Wednesday we found a different peditrician and we really like her so far. She was able to move up her MRI to June 16th (yes, this Wednesday! YEH!) and sent us to a pediatric eye doctor to check for strabismus (eyes not always aligning). We went there this morning and got a good report! She actually has pseudostrabismus (the false appearance of strabismus). It is caused by the bridge of the nose and they way the skin is around the eyes that gives the appearance that they eyes aren't alligned when they really are fine. She also had her eye dialated to check the muscles and things and all that was fine too! One test down - 2 PT appointments and one more test to go this week. We hope the rest of the week goes as well as today!
Our new peditrician told us that Kennedy is meeting all of her social milestones and she is eating and sleeping fine. The problem is that her neck and trunk muscles are not strong enough so she isn't hitting her motor skills milestones. She does roll over in both directions and reaches/grabs for things and is getting better with the other things. She does okay sitting with assistance and once in awhile can do it on her own, she plays on her side a lot (who knew that was a milestone) and is starting to do better with using her forearms to hold herself up when she is on her tummy. We are very proud of her for the progress she has made in just the last 2 weeks! Oh and she now has her top two teeth coming in!!!
Now that you have the update here are some pictures.
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
In March I took Kennedy into her pediatrician because we felt she wasn't doing very well with holding her head up. We tried not to compare her to other kids her age (and there are quite a few friends with babies within 2 weeks of her) and just figured she was on the later end of the "normal" range on milestones. Her ped referred us to a neurologist and said she had hypotonia (low muscle tone). We met with neuro doc at the beginning of April and he said she was just behind and that she didn't have hypotonia. He did order an abdominal xray and ultrasound to rule out a condition that may cause her head bobbing. All of that came back clear so we were told to just see if it got better and come back mid-May. When we went back he diagnosed her with benign head titubations and order physical therapy and said to come back August 31st. He didn't think an MRI was worth the risk (she would have to be put under so she would stay still). Again wait and see. We were beginning to question this wait and see approach that everyone seemed to be taking. She had her PT evaluation on June 2 and we are now going twice a week. At her first real session we asked the therapist how far behind she thought Kennedy was and she told us that in her 15 years experience she would be really surprised if it was just delay. So....we made an appointment with her ped that afternoon and he called neuro again. We got a call that said he would order the MRI even though he didn't think it was necessary. Although we were glad to have an MRI appointment (July 19th) this wasn't really what we had talked to the ped about...he was supposed to get us in with a different neuro doc for a 2nd opinion. Needless to say we weren't real happy with his so on Wednesday we found a different peditrician and we really like her so far. She was able to move up her MRI to June 16th (yes, this Wednesday! YEH!) and sent us to a pediatric eye doctor to check for strabismus (eyes not always aligning). We went there this morning and got a good report! She actually has pseudostrabismus (the false appearance of strabismus). It is caused by the bridge of the nose and they way the skin is around the eyes that gives the appearance that they eyes aren't alligned when they really are fine. She also had her eye dialated to check the muscles and things and all that was fine too! One test down - 2 PT appointments and one more test to go this week. We hope the rest of the week goes as well as today!
Our new peditrician told us that Kennedy is meeting all of her social milestones and she is eating and sleeping fine. The problem is that her neck and trunk muscles are not strong enough so she isn't hitting her motor skills milestones. She does roll over in both directions and reaches/grabs for things and is getting better with the other things. She does okay sitting with assistance and once in awhile can do it on her own, she plays on her side a lot (who knew that was a milestone) and is starting to do better with using her forearms to hold herself up when she is on her tummy. We are very proud of her for the progress she has made in just the last 2 weeks! Oh and she now has her top two teeth coming in!!!
Now that you have the update here are some pictures.
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)