Botox and Casting!

A brief update for the 2 of you that still come to this blog! :)

Last Friday Leah had her first round of botox. I have to admit that I was horribly nervous about it, to the point where when the doctor walked into the room I broke down in tears. I often HATE that Leah has to go through these painful things, but I have to remember that in the end 9 times out of 10 they are worth it. I had spoken to many parents who were very pleased with the outcome of botox with their hemi-kids, the therapists were encouraging it and I completely trust our physiatrist. So, with all that said we went and did it. It was over in about 20 seconds, Leah sat on my lap, got one botox shot in her calf and one shot in her forearm. She screamed, I cried, then I gave her a large chocolate lollipop and all was forgotten! Thankfully, she had no reaction to the botox and no pain. We started to see results 2 days later. Her hand has a beautiful relaxed position--the tone is almost completely gone. We are now able to stretch her foot into a neutral position, where before we could only get it to a 90 degree angle. She looks great and her therapists are overall very happy with the way she is looking.

When we decided to do the botox, Leah's doctor suggested that we do a round of casting right after the shots. So, today Leah started another round of Constraint Induced Movement therapy. I always get incredibly anxious before the casting happens because I never know how he is going to react. She is so amazing! She sat through the casting process beautifully, laughing and talking the whole time. She has had the cast on for about 7 hours now and has not complained once. She is such a trooper! I'm looking forward to seeing how the therapists work with the botox and casting together! Hopefully, this will have great results!

As for me, I'm now almost 8 months pregnant and getting ready for the baby! Leah is SO excited and loves kissing my tummy and telling the baby "I love you". When we ask her if she wants the baby to come out she lifts up my shirt and tells me she wants to pick up the baby, while trying to lift my tummy. She's going to be a great big sister!

I know I say this every time, but hopefully I'll update sooner rather then later! Thanks for the few of you who still come and check up on us!