Em hit the official ten month mark yesterday and I have no idea where the time has gone. This girl had a really big month and we are just so grateful for all the big changes happening in her life. A few days after I wrote about Em at nine months we made our way down to Atlanta to meet our new neurosurgeon, Dr Brahma. He reviewed Em's MRI from Duke and told us that it was actually a misdiagnosis and that she actually has Lobar Holoprosencephaly instead of Semilobar. This is huge. (I wrote all about my thoughts and feelings on that here if you want to read.) Not that doctors really know that much more about Lobar or anything. In fact, there may even be more unknowns since some of these babies still live short lives, while others go on to walk and talk etc... thanks to our physical therapy report that we got in the mail yesterday though, it looks like Em is going to fall into the second category. But Lobar means everything is less severe which is wonderful.
Yesterday we got the official report in the mail from Em's physical therapy appointment, and to read those words, and to see how much confidence our PT has in Em is truly amazing. The report basically said that by three months the therapist thinks Em should be able sit unsupported and play with a toy in both of her hands (WHAT?!), and that by six months she should be able to pull to stand, and crawl a distance of 25 feet (WHAT?!).
It's so amazing to see doctors who would have not been promising us anything at just this time last year, are now promising us the world. I constantly find myself just staring at Em and telling her, "I love you fiercely.", and then she gives me one of these awesome smiles as if to say, "I know."
I remember talking with Derek when I was pregnant and saying "I don't care if doctors think she's going to be delayed. I think we should just hold her to the same standard as we would our other children. I think we should still be forcing her to do tummy time, and all the things that you're supposed to do and hope she just clicks with it." Derek's reply was along the lines of, "yeah, of course, why wouldn't we?" It's nice to be on the same parenting page, and to now see the benefits of all that torturous tummy time.
Things to Know About Em at 10 Months:
- She eats one container of solid foods per day. She has started to become a little less interested in bottles, and wants to be eating more real food.
- She makes a death gag while she drinks her bottles which means shes full and you have 2 seconds to remove the bottle from her mouth or she will projectile vomit the entire contents of her stomach all over the room.
- She is starting to roll independently around the room. She can roll 2-3 times consecutively to get a toy she wants.
- She officially only sleeps in one swaddle blanket instead of two. We had her swaddled in one of these blankets, and then zipped in one of these sacks so she couldn't bust out, but it got too hot, so we just zip her in the sack now, and she does surprisingly well. She rolls over on her tummy in the middle of the night and then gets ticked off, but we go in and roll her over and all is well again.
- She added "ow" to her vocabulary this month. If she hits hear head on a toy, or something, she'll go, "ow.... ow.... ow..."
Since having Em become a part of our family, it's introduced us to so many other families with sick children, whose situations are so much more serious than ours. It breaks my heart to see so many kids facing hard illnesses, and I know every single day that it could easily be us.
That's why I've nominated Make A Wish Georgia to win a $2,000 grant from Huggies with their new #UltraHug campaign. You can nominate a community project in your area by uploading a selfie with you and your baby on twitter or instagram using the hashtag #UltraHug and nominate a community project that needs some help. The top 10 community projects will each receive a $2,000 grant from Huggies! You can also click here to see what kinds of projects other moms across the country are nominating!
What a cute girl! She is growing up so fast! I am praying for you and all the success that is coming Em's way! Your post is so inspiring!
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