Baby!

We had our "big" level 2 ultrasound on Tuesday, thankfully everything looks great! We are so relieved, but we still know that in the 20 weeks I have left things could happen. The doctor has decided that we are going to do monthly ultrasounds just to keep an eye on things and then at 34 weeks we'll do another Level 2 ultrasound.

The level 2 ultrasound was the coolest thing ever! We saw every single detail of the baby--well, almost every detail--we're still keeping the sex of the baby a surprise!

I'm feeling a weight lifted as I was very nervous about this ultrasound. Until the next ultrasound, then I'll be nervous again!

Physiatrist Appointment

Today Leah had her appointment with her physiatrist. It went really well! I really like the Dr we see, she is always so positive!

She thinks Leah looks great and loves seeing her improvements! She does feel like her leg is getting a bit tighter and thinks that is because she is growing. She feels like Leah could benefit from some botox in her leg, within the next couple of months. She also said that she recommends if we are going to go ahead with the botox in the leg, that we do a bit in her arm as well. She wants the arm botox to be followed by Constraint Induced Movement Therapy (Casting), she believes we will see the best results by doing it that way.

I did get a chance to discuss my questions about Cord Blood. We didn't bank Leah's cord blood, but thought we'd look into banking this babies. I wanted to discuss banking this babies cord blood and possibly using it for Stem Cell Therapy for Leah. She said that she has not seen results from doing the Stem Cell Therapy on someone as high-functioning as Leah. She encourages us to research and make the best decision, but she went on to say that we really need to weigh the amount of time, the travel, the expense etc. She said that she has seen many parents go into the SCT thinking that their child will be "cured" and in turn the results are very minimal. She believes that Leah will be able to do everything a typical person can and at this point in time does not believe that stem cell therapy is the way to go...although she highly encourages banking the cord blood. Anyone have any thoughts? Or experiences with any of this? I'd LOVE to hear it!

What's The Word?

Well, it's been a little over forever since I've last posted! Many things have gone on in since I last updated, so I'll try to recap!

Leah is little miss personality these days! She is talking SO much lately. She did start speech therapy about a month ago--but missed 3 weeks due to the holidays, so she really only had two sessions of speech. Today was her third session. In the first two the speech therapist said she is talking a lot, but that she needs to work on putting two words together. Well, the three weeks she was off she started on her own putting two words together and is doing it consistently now. The ST, Christine, was thrilled to see the progress today, and now said to work on putting three words together! It's always something...oh good you got this, now work on this! Anyway, Leah is non-stop talking to us, but her teachers are still not hearing her talk, which is frustrating since I know she can do it! Hopefully soon she'll open up to them!

OT is going well, we have been taping Leah's hand in knesio tape for the past couple of months and I LOVE (LOVE, LOVE) the way she looks in it! Her movements are so natural and precise when taped! She still has no active grasp, but she does have full use of her arm and uses it as an assit. Just this week she started to initiate a grasp which is definite progress! We plan on casting again in the next month or two.

PT is fantastic! Leah is incredibly on point with her gross motors, which is always great. She is still wearing an AFO on her left leg and an SMO on her right. I had a lot of concerns in the beginning in regards to how she looked in the AFO, because she was turning her foot in SO much, but thankfully in the past couple weeks she has self-corrected and is almost not turning in at all anymore!

All of Leah's therapists have kicked me out of the room. We realized that she was using me as a crutch and actually does a lot better without me in the room! She goes to her OT and PT without hesitation, but her ST she is a little more weary of. I think once we get on a routine with the ST she won't be as upset to go without me.

We have an appointment with Leah's physatrist next week, so I always look forward to hearing what she has to say.

As for me, I'm now just about 19 weeks along and feeling good! We go in soon for our big level 2 ultrasound which is exciting and VERY scary at the same time. I'm praying for only good news. We won't be finding out the sex of the baby, so this ultrasound is strictly to make sure everything is looking good. As it gets closer, I get more nervous. I just don't know how I feel to find out if something (god forbid) is wrong. We already turned down all the prenatal testing, because I want to just enjoy the pregnancy and I worry enough without knowing what's going on. I'm praying for only good news...please keep us in your thoughts in the next couple weeks!

Other then that, I'm loving feeling the baby move all the time! I'm convinced that he or she is going to be born with dreadlocks all the way down to their ankles, with the amount of heartburn I've been having! (You know what they say, heartburn=a full head of hair!). We've been checking out double strollers and planning on getting the room in order soon (basically just cleaning it out!). We want to move Leah into a big girl bed in the next month or two, so we'll need a place for the crib and the dresser! We are also hoping to get Leah potty trained and RID OF THE PACI before this baby comes! God help us as the paci ridding is no easy feat! She's obsessed...anyone have any good tips? All day she asks for her "Faci"...she hasn't quite gotten the "p" sound down yet. So, lots to do before the baby is born in June!

That's about it for now!