Progress!!!

We've had a busy week. Monday, my Mama kept Rhyan for a few hours so Jeff and I could sneak out for some yum-o breakfast at the Red Barn and a movie (transformers). Then Wednesday she stayed with my cousin Tracy (who will be keeping Rhyan when we both go back to work) so we could head out for Lake Lanier water park. We had a great time and Rhyan did great with Tracy (i knew she would) and it makes me so much more comfortable about having to leave her with someone. I have to tell you, Lake lanier has not changed and Jeff and I felt like a couple of (fatter) teenagers! We had a blast!!!

On Friday we took Rhyan for a physical therapy evaluation appointment at Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta (in duluth). She has a condition of her neck called torticollis which means a muscle in her neck is tight (and has been since birth b/c of the way she was positioned in utero) and she cant turn her head very well to one side (the left). Therefore, she is getting some head shaping that is not ideal on the right. We've been working w/ her at home prior to this visit to try to loosen the muscles and she's made progress, but we've not been successful in getting her to sleep with her head turned to the left, which is the only way the molding can correct on its own (w/o having to go into a helmet).

The therapist was super nice and said her torticollis is moderate to severe and she thinks she'll do well with therapy but that worse case senario, they could do surgery to "release" the muscle. Ok... so we're gonna work REALLY hard with her at home to avoid this, obviously. Part of what keeps her from turning left is that since her head is already flat on the right, her head naturally falls that way. So hopefully that will begin to correct itself, as well.

The therapist also said she's a little behind on her neck strength and needs tummy time during every wake time for as long as she will tolerate it. This, combined w/ all the stretches and exercises and massage of her neck, takes up most of her wake time for now and makes her fussy (which i hate... i much prefer to lay and talk to her and sing to her and have her smile and talk back rather than work so hard... hopefully this will get better w/ time!).

Last thing, and this is what i want to ask our friends to pray about. The therapist noticed some curving of her back which concerned her a little and wants us to see an orthapedist for an xray to see if she might have some structural scoliosis. This worries me a good bit b/c my cousin had severe scoliosis that required surgery to place a rod on each side of her spine to keep it from worsening. Thats pretty extreme, i know. But, of course, when its your child you fear the worse case. So PLEASE, would you pray with us that this is simply a case of her muscles being stronger on one side than the other (which she said is also possible). Again, my worry is b/c we 've had several people in the family with back issues and I dont want Rhyan added to the list.

But really, we are LOVING being Rhyan's parents. I cant believe how much she's changed already...