5 Months Old!

Addie is 5 months old, 12 pounds 2 ounces, 23.5 inches long! She is just growing although still very small! She is such a wonderful baby especially given all the different issues she is dealing with. I am loving having my girl. She is keeping us busy though. At this point she rolls from her back to her belly on both sides. She loves to play on her activity mat and sit in a chair I bought her that has toys all around. She has discovered her feet and loves to look at them or grab at the straps of her boots with her right hand. She also brings both her hands together on her chest often which is a new trick! The left arm she is now able to lift up onto her chest and bend it at the elbow. We had her first occupational therapy session last week and that went really well. The occupational therapist worked with her arm, went over the stretches I should be doing daily, and gave me some new ideas to try. She will be coming again next week. She comes right into the house and we are able to do it all here! We are in the process of getting the physical therapy approved by insurance and then we should start having that the opposite weeks of the occupational therapy. I am not sure if we will be able to have it in the home when we first start, but hopefully within a couple months it will be. We have quite a few doctor appointments coming up starting on May 30th with her orthopedic doctor here to check on her feet. Hopefully at this appointment we will begin weaning her to only wearing the braces at night. Then June 8th she has an appointment with a neurologist here (for her arm). Her pediatrician referred her to him before we went to St. Louis, but we decided to go ahead and keep the appointment and get his opinion also.  June 20th is her follow-up appointment (for her hip) with the chief of staff orthopedic doctor at Shriners Hospital in St. Louis. After she sees the doctor at Shriners they may schedule her to see a neurologist (for her arm) there also. We are hitting a crazy patch of doctor visits, but we are so thankful for the help we have been getting. Each visit has given more answers and more direction. I am so thankful for all of the wonderful doctors we have worked with so far. Some of these visits carry a lot of unknowns but God has lead us to great doctors who have taken the time to explain and work with us to help Addie. I never would have picked this road to go down, but God is here with me and if He is here I am okay. He is using us here. He is shaping us here. He is faithful! It has been 5 busy and crazy months, but it has been 5 wonderful months! We have seen answer after answer to our prayers! We have a sweet, happy, baby girl that our boys just love! Life is good because God is good! For things that God has done in Addie's life already and what He will yet do I will praise Him!
Psalms 145:3-4 Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.  One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.

St. Louis Doctors Visit

I woke up with such a peace yesterday that could only come from God. I knew as I headed in with Addie that God was right there with us, a wonderful feeling! The day just started off good. Addie and I left my aunt's house at 10:30, I left the boys with my cousin. As I got to the hospital I called  the doctor's office to make sure we were parking in the area they would validate and they told me that they were able to get me a therapy appointment also for that day! When I had talked them on Tuesday they said I would not be able to see all 3 doctors and do therapy until May 28th! God had gone before us! We got to the appointment and we saw Dr. Wall (orthopedic) and Dr. Noetzel (Neurologist) both working with a special clinic specializing in erb's palsy, which Addie had been diagnosed with. Dr. Wall came into see us first. She looked over Addie and we talked about the lack of normal movement in her left arm, right and left fingers, right knee, and clubbed feet. Dr. Wall specializes in orthopedics on upper extremities. She mentioned that because Addie has so many joints that seem stiff a possible definition may be Arthrogryposis, which is more of a name for a symptom than a diagnosis itself. She recommended for us to go the the Shriner's in St. Louis because if it is Arthogryposis it could possibly make a difference on how they handle the hip dislocation. Dr. Wall specializes on upper extremities and works at Shriners were other orthopedic doctors specialize on lower extremities. She was going to call Shriner's to try and get us in and get back to me hopefully today. She gave no definitive prognosis on the arm, but mentioned she thought there could be a plexus injury and not just weakness. She was pleased with the progress Addie's arm had made and added another daily stretch to do. After Dr. Wall left us she went and conversed with Dr. Noetzel. Dr. Noetzel then came in and examined Addie. He took time to explain the idea of Arthogryposis and we discussed the difficulties Addie had during pregnancy; lack of space, lack of movement. After examining her and our conversation he stated that he did not think she was suffering from nerve or muscle injuries. He thinks her arm is just weak from not being able to move it during pregnancy because of breech positioning. He is expecting her to regain full use of her arm. When I asked about doing any testing he also recommended going to Shriner's and working with a neurologist there who would work with the orthopedic doctor there. He mentioned that there could be some genetic issues we may have not tested for that could add to what we are seeing on Addie.We didn't end up seeing the neurosurgeon because Dr. Noetzel did not think it was a nerve injury. We then went to therapy and met with a physical and occupational therapist who gave us some new exercises to do in addition to the range of motions ones we had been doing. I also discussed with the therapists about our plan of action with her therapists back home. They agreed that our plan of 2 times a month with occupational and 2 times a month with physical would be effective. I feel very good about the new exercises because even in the last week, I added 2 new exercises, I have seen a lot of new movement in her arm. God is not done yet and I am excited to see how He continues to touch our little Addie. I am now spending a couple days with my family near St. Louis, which is a nice bonus to the trip! We were able to go to church with them last night and the church family that has been praying for Addie for so long was able to meet her. It has been a great trip and I am so glad we were able to get in so quickly! Our God is faithful and He continues to show Himself as such! Psalms 86:15 "But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness."