I can't tell you how important it is to have your new baby go to the doctor even when they are healthy. Those appointments are so very important to help chart your baby's development and for the doctor to be able to note oddities and things that may cause concern. When Ezekiel was nine months old I took him in for his well child visit. He was a healthy boy -- a little small, and nothing unusual -- other than that he wasn't rolling over and sitting (things that at nine months can still fall under the range of normal development). During his checkup, the doctor wasn't concerned until I made a little comment about how when I nurse him I have to fight him because he'll be screaming to eat but he arches his back away from me. At that comment and the fact that he had only rolled over once or twice, she scheduled us an appointment with a physical therapist to have him evaluated. Our first therapy session went great. In fact we left and at home Ezekiel began rolling all over the house -- He loved it, and all he needed was for someone to show him how to flip his hips. However, the therapist noticed something else that we had failed to notice. The left side of Ezekiel's body was weaker than the right side of his body. I didn't think much of this except that we would need to work on strengthening the left side. However, that afternoon the doctor called me very concerned and wanted us to go see a pediatritian two hours away. When I asked her what she thought was wrong she said he could have had a stroke in-utero, or a tumor, or cerebral palsy. But she was leaning more towards the idea of the stroke. Needless to say the next two weeks until our appointment went quite slowly. We had a wonderful appointment with the pediatritian where he decided the Ezekiel's problem was a MINOR case of Cerebral Palsy -- something easily corrected with Physical Therapy. However, he did a CT Scan just to rule out a stroke or tumor. I can't thank the Lord enough for having had this diagnosis so early in Ezekiel's Life. As I researched on-line, I discovered most children with CP are not diagnosed until the age of 2 or 3. And here we are at 17 and a half months. With Ezekiel's monthly therapy sessions, he went from a nine month old with a four month old motor skills to now being at the normal level of an 18 month old. We are so thankful for a doctor who took the time to work with Ezekiel and share our concern for the delay in his development. I have been to some doctors who would have just shrugged it off as being normal development just slightly delayed but nothing to concern ourselves with.
My Mother-in-Laws Christmas Village -- This is the first year we've had a nice place to display it without having to constantly rescue the pieces from the grasp of tiny hands.
I hope those of you who stayed up to bring in the new year had a wonderful time of fun and fellowship with those you stayed up with, and for those of you who chose to retire before the ball dropped, I hope you felt refreshed today.
We had a wonderful evening last night. Some friends from church came over and we had a short prayer service, and the a good time of goodies and fellowship. After they left, we stayed up for awhile with the older three kids and played Chutes and Ladders.This morning, I started the year 2010 off to a great start. My house is clean, I kept track of what I ate (except the food I ate at the Emily's shower, but I limited myself), and I exercised for 30 minutes. We even had a fun time finishing the game of Chutes and Ladders with the kids. We are certainly going to be spending more time playing together as a family this year.
Here is a picture of the rose JA bought me for our anniversary. Well, the Christmas decorations are still up. They will be going down sometime this next week, but I am really enjoying them now that Christmas is past. Hmmm. I guess that means I probably spent too much time focused on what I needed to get done for Christmas that I neglected to take time to enjoy the season. Someone please remind me next Christmas to enjoy the season!!!!
I can't tell you how important it is to have your new baby go to the doctor even when they are healthy. Those appointments are so very important to help chart your baby's development and for the doctor to be able to note oddities and things that may cause concern.
When Ezekiel was nine months old I took him in for his well child visit. He was a healthy boy -- a little small, and nothing unusual -- other than that he wasn't rolling over and sitting (things that at nine months can still fall under the range of normal development). During his checkup, the doctor wasn't concerned until I made a little comment about how when I nurse him I have to fight him because he'll be screaming to eat but he arches his back away from me. At that comment and the fact that he had only rolled over once or twice, she scheduled us an appointment with a physical therapist to have him evaluated.
Our first therapy session went great. In fact we left and at home Ezekiel began rolling all over the house -- He loved it, and all he needed was for someone to show him how to flip his hips. However, the therapist noticed something else that we had failed to notice. The left side of Ezekiel's body was weaker than the right side of his body. I didn't think much of this except that we would need to work on strengthening the left side. However, that afternoon the doctor called me very concerned and wanted us to go see a pediatritian two hours away. When I asked her what she thought was wrong she said he could have had a stroke in-utero, or a tumor, or cerebral palsy. But she was leaning more towards the idea of the stroke. Needless to say the next two weeks until our appointment went quite slowly.
We had a wonderful appointment with the pediatritian where he decided the Ezekiel's problem was a MINOR case of Cerebral Palsy -- something easily corrected with Physical Therapy. However, he did a CT Scan just to rule out a stroke or tumor.
I can't thank the Lord enough for having had this diagnosis so early in Ezekiel's Life. As I researched on-line, I discovered most children with CP are not diagnosed until the age of 2 or 3. And here we are at 17 and a half months. With Ezekiel's monthly therapy sessions, he went from a nine month old with a four month old motor skills to now being at the normal level of an 18 month old. We are so thankful for a doctor who took the time to work with Ezekiel and share our concern for the delay in his development. I have been to some doctors who would have just shrugged it off as being normal development just slightly delayed but nothing to concern ourselves with.
