Eight Weeks Home, Christy Update!

Taking a nap at the park just last week!

I am shocked and surprised at how different her second month home has been from her first month home. Christy's first month home was mostly spent at home, where as the past 4 weeks have been insanely busy!  I am also shocked at how badly I did at taking photos of Christy (or anyone around here for that matter!).  I will have to do better!

Christy had an appointment with the ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) specialist.  He said that someday she'll probably need her tonsils and adenoids removed since she does snore often, but that she felt that she was on the small side and thought waiting was the better choice, but also said that we might consider getting a second opinion at Children's Hospital in Seattle.  We talked it over, and due to her sinus congestion waking her more and more frequently as night, we feel that she needs to see the ENT at Children's.  This referal has been made, but I have not gotten an appointment yet.  After seeing the ENT her pediatrician wants her to also have a sleep study done.

Christy giving one of her goofy silly looks - this was taken yesterday

A couple days later Christy got to go with us to a local park to play with friends while the big people played volleybell.  Christy did so very well there, but did NOT like the swing (you know the one that is like a bucket with holes).  She was happy to hang out in her stroller or play on the grass.  She did manage to get over into the sand, but this mean mommy took her out before she could eat any!

The next week was very busy for me (Esther had a pre-surgery appt at Seattle Children's) and our family (we had a stomach illness run through about half of the family, but just one or two people at a time).  Christy had her first Physical Therapy evaluation that week too.  We found out at that appointment that it would be best to wait to get braces for her legs (to limit the range of motion as her knee are double jointed) until after she has learned to crawl.  As long as she is not weight bearing, she will not be damaging her knees.  Once she has learned to crawl, then we will be getting her braces to wear when she is practicing/learning to walk.  We have some exercises to do with her now to strengthen her legs and arms to prepare for crawling.

First time in the pool....

We had a busy Fourth of July weekend, with relative from out of state visiting in the area.  Christy got to go the beach for the first time, but it was very windy and she didn't like it at all.  She just wanted to be held.  Then we went to a family reunion (Daryl's family) at another park and she did much better there, but like best to be in her stroller.  

Last Tuesday we went to another park (Esther's Physical Therapist has recommended that we take her to parks frequently to help her built coordination and strength - and it's working!).  Christy was tired when we arrived (it was lunch time) so she took a nap in her stroller - first time she's ever done that!.  Someday I hope that she will begin to be able to explore parks, but right now it's really hard since she is limited to scooting around on her bum, and she puts everything in her mouth (a really bad combination since she has a very poor coughing ability so choking is a very real hazard for her - even here at home).

She Loves It!

Yesterday Christy was evaluated by our favorite speech therapists, Elaina.  We were greeted with excited hugs as we haven't seen her in a long time (Esther and Dayton both have seen her in the past).  Elaina confirmed that Christy does have some eating coordination issues and is also concerned with me that she is not gaining weight very well yet.  She has given me some things to do with Christy during meals to increase her awareness of her mouth, work towards self feeding and learn to drink thickened water from a cup.  I am also teaching her to sign "eat" and will work on saying "eat" and "water" to her when I am feeding her.  Elaina really wants to see her regularly but has a long waiting list.  They are going to try to get her on the schedule soon.

And Esther Loved having her in the pool!

Yesterday Christy experienced our pool for the first time and she loved it!  She loves taking a bath, but I wasn't sure if she'd like the cooler water.  But we've had an unusually warm summer so the pool isn't too bad.  She will definitely be following in Esther's foot steps and become a fish.  Carese, on the other hand wants nothing to o with the pool!

Christy has been staying at home more recently, but that is going to change as she has lots of appointments in the next few weeks - her dental evaluation at Children's. Physical Therapy once a week, plus our annual week long camping trip!  Plus we will making more appointments for her dental work and seeing the ENT.  

My baby girls, in PJs but not ready to go to bed quite yet!

Overall, Christy has been exceptionally healthy and has adjusted very well to our home and life.  I have found that she enjoys shopping when she is in her stroller.  Generally speaking, away from home her safe place is her stroller.  At home she loves to explore and even enjoys spending time in the yard and swinging on the swing set (in HER swing of course).  She gets lots of attention and enjoys play.  Hearing her laugh is just THE BEST!

 She also allows me to hold her hands together when I pray with her at betime - before she would resist and get mad at me!  The funniest thing is that she LOVEs to get dressed and undressed.  She giggles and giggles.  I will have to videotape this somehow.  She is getting very fast at scooting up to someone and raising her arm(s) to let them know she wants to get picked up.  She will even chase you down if you are avoiding her (for fun, of course).

All tucked in and ready for bed!

She is a very content little girl.  She rarely cries.  She usually has more of an angry cry when she gets hurt or is in pain.  It is a strange cry - almost animalistic.  Its almost like a panic kind of cry.  It is very sad to hear and really hard since we quite often do not know the cause - she just can't tell us.  Even when we know the cause (like if we see her fall over and bump her head), it's hard because it's almost as if she doesn't understand how to receive comfort.  But she is improving in this area somewhat, and I'm sure with time she will come to understand and receive comfort from us.

 Christy and Carese are nearly identical in size.  Six weeks ago we found out that they were less than 1/4 in different in height and less than 3 oz different in weight.  Christy really has not grown noticeable yet so they are still like twins.  They wear the same size clothes (you can notice that Carese is wearing the same PJS that Christy is wearing in one other photo).  For a while, all the winter clothes were put on Christy, and the summer clothes on Carese.  But as the weather has warmed up, I am dressing Christy in lighter clothes so they are being dressed more similarly now as a general rule.

And now for two videos!  The first one was of Esther and Chrisy playing together, really for the first time.  This has been the biggest change in Christy's life in the past month.  Esther no long ignores her and actually loves to play with her.  At random times we will find Esther sitting down next to Christy and just giving her hugs - it is so sweet!

The second video is ground breaking stuff!  Christy is slowly but surely gaining more use of her right leg/foot and arm/hand!  In the last video, you will see her use her right hand/arm to shake a rattle!  We did have to put the rattle in her hand, but she kept it and moved it enough to create sound, and she knew she was doing it!  This is miraculous!

Christy's First Month Home!

Two Feet on US soil - a new US citizen!

Oh my, time flies!  I can not believe that as of this week, Christ has been in our home for a month!  Her first day in our home was May 18.  She has done so very very well in adjusting to our home!  She even acclimated to our time zone within days - faster than I did, that is for sure!

 We have been very busy settling in, finding a new routine that works for now, and getting her the medical diagnosis that we felt were important - here's a list of appointments she's had and what we found out from them:

Carese - the binky caretaker

May 20 - Pediatrician - basically got her height weight, updated our Dr with her new medical information and got her file started and a general look/see for her doctor and her.

May 22 - University of Washington Adoption Medical Clinic (3 hour drive each way!) - Dr Davies got her weight height and looked over both Christy and her latest medical documents and got referrals in place for things like cardiology, neurology, speech and physical therapy evaluations being top priority, Ear/Nose/Throat  evaluation, eye sight and hearing are all on the list too, only not critical.   She also had a myriad of blood work drawn and tested as well as stool cultures done.  So far everything has been great, with the one exception of a Vit D deficiency (we are giving her 1000 IU/day now).

She wasn't too sure about grass, but she warmed up to it!

May 27 - Pediatrician - checking Christy for cold symptoms, but mostly discussing the findings from Dr Davies and discussing referrals needed. She also got to watch Christy drink from a tippy cup and put in the feeding referral right away...told me to only feed her foods from a spoon until then (thickening everything to pudding consistency to be on the safe side).

It was hat day, or something!  Carese wanted to do whatever
Christy was doing that day!

Starting the next day, a virus passed through our family - Rachel, Elizabeth and Carese with high fevers, and I got tonsillitis, the worst case that I can remember (it really took me over a week to finally have no pain)!  Esther and Christy did not get sick at all which was totally weird!

Too stinking cute!

June 3 - Seattle Children's Hospital Cardiology/Echocardiogram -   I finally got all the answers - Christy did no only have an ASD correction like her earlier documents had said, but a very complete open heart surgery - they repaired an ASD, a VSD and an AV Canal defect.  They basically reconstructed the middle of her heart.  The echo was not as clear as they would like, but she feels that the surgery was very successful that she will not need any further repair work.  We are to bring her back in one year from now.  That was a very good sign!

Playing at her Neurology
Appointment

June 5 - Neurology - after reviewing her medical files, and observing her clinically, the pediatric neurologist has determined that Christy has brain damage.  This could have happened either when she was born (traumatic, fetal distress induced emergency C-section) or during her open heart surgery.  If it happened at or around the time of birth, then it is called "Cerebral Palsy" but if it happens later in life they refer to it as a "stroke."  Either way, it is a stable diagnosis (that means it is not getting progressively worse) but it is permanent.  At the same time she did agree that it was very promising that we were already seeing her use her right hand and arm more and more since we brought her home, and with therapy and the blessing of a home and many siblings to play with, she has great potential to gain more use of her right side and she believes that she will be able to walk someday too!  So that was great news, but I did shed a few tears as in my heart I had really hoped that it was just some pinched nerve that adjustment/surgery would correct.

All 4 in matching PJs!

June 8 - First time we were able to bring Christy to church!  She did great and we had a wonderful time introducing her to our church family.  She would not make eye contact with strangers and got a little stressed if people wanted to touch her, but she had no panic attacks and we were even able to stay after the service for the potluck!

Favorite toy - her own foot!

Jun 10 - On the 5th, I finally got a good look at Christy's teeth and immediately made an appt to see our pediatric dentist.  On this day my suspicions were confirmed.  Every molar had as least two cavities (one above each root) and she needed work done right away.  She has been referred to Seattle Children's for this and has a consultation scheduled for the middle of July, but she is on a cancellation list, so hopefully we can get her in sooner. So far no abscesses, but I am to keep and eye out for that and brush regularly.  She does allow me to brush her teeth, but I can tell that sometimes it hurts (she winces).

First Sunday going to church - all in
Matching dresses (all of which came
from a consignment store!)

That was the  last appointment so far, but in the next month we have the following:

(I have two appts for a new crown as a tooth broke last summer and last weekend it broke further...)
June 24 - ENT
July 1 - Esther's pre-surgery consultation for her dental general anesthesia procedure
July 3 - Christy - Physical Therapy Evaluation (hoping to get a referral for braces and her knees bend backwards to an alarming degree)
July 11 - Christy - Feeding Therapy Evaluation
July 15 - Christy - Seattle Children's Hospital - dental consultation
July 17 - Esther - Seattle Children's Hospital - dental surgery

Good night mommy!

So we have a busy month ahead.  We still have some things to schedule yet, but they are not urgent (like vision).

Matching PJs that were given as gifts from
Two different people in two different states!

As far as Christy's integration into our family - it has gone so very much better than I even hoped!  She really had no problems with our busy home, except occasionally if played with too long she would get grumpy, but would recover if she got some time by herself.  She loves to scoot all around the house exploring her new environment.  She continues to love reflective surfaces like our kitchen appliances. We have definitely had to do some "baby proofing" in the home, especially since she loves to put things into her mouth - she loves to chew on paper, plastic and other things....but yet she spews out things like Cheerios and Kix - go figure!



Here are some videos that I think you'll enjoy!

Christy at the UW appointment, having a great time waiting.  She LOVES mirrors, can you tell?

This was just two days ago - this is her right hand/arm that has pretty much been useless.  When we visited her last fall, she could only move it occasionally and it was usually to get you to stop messing with it.  This is purposefully using it to experiment with the toy!  This is miraculous!

This last video was taken that same day, only at bedtime.  Esther has pretty much ignored Christy until very recently.  We noticed that she showed jealousy for the first time just last week, and it was when she saw that Reuben was spending time with Christy and Reuben is Esther's favorite person.  Then, on this evening, she was actually playing with Christy on the floor and they were laughing together.  I thought it would stop when I took them to bed, but I was wrong and I was able to take this amazing, sweet video of them playing together!