Rhyan: 15 Months

WOW! 15 months! We are loving every minute with her. She really is such a great baby. We're blessed, and we know it! At 15 months, here are some things i'll want to remember. She is:

-sleeping 7pm-7am each day
-naps in the morning from about 10:15-11am
-naps in the afternoon from about 1:15/1:30-4ish
-occasionally skips her a.m. nap (like, on sundays)
-LOVES to dance! to anything!
-is taking TONS of steps. not a full time walker just yet, but is well on her way!
-loves Spud like crazy. gives him kisses and pets him gently, much to his dismay
-says mama, dada, bye bye, bah (ball), bud-un (button.. in reference to her belly button), puh-kin (pumpkin), puh (spud), nigh nigh (night night), up, open (um, but i'm pretty sure she doesnt mean open, its just a noise she says constantly) and done.
-does "bad face"
-lets you "smell her foot"
-still does the little indian
-shakes her finger when i sing 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed when i get to the part where the doctor said "no more monkeys jumping on the bed"!
-tries to do the motions to itsy bitsy spider
-loves the outside
-LOVES water! pool, beach, water table, bath time... she just loves water!
-can point to her toes, foot, hair, belly button and OUR hair, ears, eyes, nose and teeth.
-talks a ton. we have no clue what shes saying and most of it sounds Chinese :-)
-helps get herself dressed by putting each arm in her clothes, putting each foot in her pants, etc.
-says "ohhhhhh" when she drops something or falls while walking. its cuter in person.
-blows raspberries. yuck.
-has weathered since her 1st bday roseola and strep throat.
-is doing great w/ her torticollis and is holding her head up well. we still do daily stretches.
-gives the best hugs and kisses. she even does it when i sing "i love you, you love me..." (the barney song...).

We are very excited and feel very blessed to get to be Rhyan's parents and are so glad that God entrusted her to us!

Post-Op, One year old, sick Rhyan

For a quick update on Rhyan, first... Her neck is looking great. Almost all the bruising is gone and what is left is a faint yellow. The incision looks fantastic and i really feel good about our decision to do the surgery. Yes, day of was hard. But after the 1st hour of post op, she acted completely normal! She's a real trooper.

Yesterday was her actual one year bday. I cant believe how fast its gone. I enjoy her so much at this age. She's showing great cognitive development and responds very well to instruction. She will "clean up" after bath or play time (meaning putting her toys in a basket), she can point to her "mama" and "daddy", can point to "hair" and "nose" correctly and gives kisses when asked for them. Just tonight she blew her first kiss to her daddy. *so cute*. We have her one year well check tomorrow morning but before posting on that i wanted to do a quick update post-op.

Rhyan woke up this morning kind of whiny which is NOT normal for her. She had pee-pee'd so much last night that her diaper was literally falling off and her p.j.'s had popped open. Her face was flushed and she was running a low temp. Her lower left molar broke through on tuesday, so assuming it was issues with teething, i took her on over to tracy's house. I had an abnormally early appointment scheduled for some odd reason and needed to go into work to at least take care of the morning before having to take off (if i had to). Tracy called me around 11 when Rhyan got up from nap and left me a message saying her temp was back up to 101.0 and for me to call her. Of course i called the dr first and they said to bring her on in. Tracy's son, Elijah (who rhyan [and all of us!] love has recently had strep and although its rare for a baby to get strep, since she had been "exposed" by direct contact with him this weekend, the dr felt it best that we bring her in. So i did.

The rapid strep test came back negative but there is a 15-20% chance of a false negative. So they're doing a culture but wont have results until Monday. So until then we're treating for strep with amoxicillin. We started her on florastor tonight to help avoid tummy upsets and i'm truly hoping its strep. At least that way the antibiotics will cure it! If its a virus she will just be pitiful for several days... and with her bday party coming up on sunday, i DONT want that!

Anyways, she's a little clingy (which i dont mind... i love holding her) and a little whiny, but she really wants to feel good and play. After each tylenol dose, she perks up and feels good for a little bit, then reverts back to pitiful Rhyan. This really points towards it being a virus more than strep, but heres to hoping...

So, her "Gran" is being kind enough to keep her tomorrow for us so we can both work. Jeff is proctoring his classes in the CRCT this week and truly cant miss work and I am missing some work next week (b/c the dr will be doing a continuing ed course out of town) so we're working tomorrow to make up a day. The downside to my job is if i dont work, i dont get paid... so i'm grateful for Ronni keeping her so i can get some hours in.

Like i said, her well check is tomorrow and i'll post her stats then, but for now i'm gonna hit the hay and pray for healing :-)

Surgery: Day of

Rather than write all about how i feel about everything, i'm going to give an account of the day for now.
5:30am-wake up. check on rhyan in the awesome video monitor our friend loaned to us. jeff and i discuss our concerns. i cry. we pray.
6:15am-rushing to get out the door. i get rhyan up to find that she poopied last night. she hasnt done this in ages. poor baby is starting this day with a diaper rash
6:25am-actually leave. 10 minutes later than planned. jeff reminds me of how i need to leave myself more time in the mornings. i remind him that he's been reminding me of this for almost 14 years now. i dont see it changing. i'm grateful for his patience :-)
7:10am- arrive at the outpatient center. get rhyan registered (fill out papers). let her play. she likes the little handsome boys who are there. the older one has his eye on her. he's 17 months old. she likes older men, apparently. one is there for a redo of a botched circumcision (ouch) and the other for tubes.
7:45ish-rhyan gets called back for vitals to be taken. they weigh her. 22lbs. they check her blood pressure and o2 levels. jeff takes a pic. and from around the corner, our rockin pastor jeff jones appears. he's come to stay with us for a while. did i mention that he's great?
8amish-get taken back to a room. rhyan is given a gown to wear. i think she's awfully cute in it. the nurse leaves a gown and hair net for whoever will go back with her for anesthesia. i claim it to be me. jeff is kind enough to allow me. we hang out for a while. the anesthesiologist comes in to explain things, check that her paperwork is correct (this will be confirmed at least 5 more times before they take her back...) and assures us she will be fine. dr b's nurse practitioner comes in to give us post op instructions with meds, confirm that we're doing surgery on the left, have us sign consent forms and assure us everything will be fine. another nurse comes in to administer tylenol, tell me its time to put on my garb and to assure us everything will be fine.
8:45am (right on time)-rhyan and i are taken back for her anesthesia. i love on her for a bit. then i lay her on the bed. the nurses are all around us and comforting us both. she looks a little worried/scared/unsure. one nurse starts to place the mask on her face and she doesnt like it. she cries. i cry. i sing to her as i cry. it doesnt help. she finally drifts off to sleep. one last kiss from momma and i leave. saddest moment of the day.
we are taken to her recovery room. the jeff's distract me. before i know it, 45 minutes have gone by and the dr is in the room showing me PICTURES of her surgery! how cool (yes, i like stuff like that). he said he doesnt normally print pics for parents but could tell that i was "into it" and interested so he did for me :-) he explained that she had a good bit of fibrous tissue and that he transected (cut) about 98% of it but was able to leave a thin layer to protect her carotid artery and internal jugular. i'm glad. she lost about a tsp of blood and did great.
i start making calls to let people know she's ok. i hear crying and know its her. but they wont bring her out yet. its painful to listen to, and at the same time so sweet to hear her.
they come around the corner with her on this big, adult sized bed. she looks tiny. she's "found her fingers" says the nurse. thank god :-) she's not crying anymore. then they lower the bed which wakes her and she cries. thats ok. i wasnt going to pick her up if she was calm, but i'm ok with holding her now that she's not :-) she sleeps for about 30 min on my chest.
we wake her and she downs 10 ounces of diluted apple juice. they remove the i.v. i change her clothes. jeff gets her meds from the pharmacy downstairs. and we're discharged.
rhyan slept all the way home and was ready to eat when we got there. she ate some k.f.c.'s mac n cheese, potato's and gravy and a container of yogurt. she also drank a good bit of milk. she's "talking" and smiling. and we are both relieved.

Surgery Eve

We are to be at the outpatient center tomorrow morning at 7:15am for pre-op. Rhyan's surgery will be at 8:45 and I hope they run on time. She ate a great dinner tonight (8-10 bites of baked chicken, lots of macaronni, lots of peas, lots of peaches, lots of water and 7oz of milk... i finally said "thats enough" and stopped feeding her) but she cant have anything tomorrow morning. Lets hope she's distracted enough tomorrow to not care. I am considering fasting with my daughter for solidarity :-). Truly, more for prayer. But then this afternoon, my nerves have been messed up, therefore my tummy has been messed up and I dont know if thats a good idea (to skip breakfast). I guess I'll decide tomorrow. Yes, i know i dont have to fast with her to pray for her.

Jeff and I had a great time with her this evening. I caught some cute pics and thought i'd share. While i was reviewing my pics to see what to upload, i came across pics of her first pool experience this year. I seriously need to do a post on that. Hilarious.

Thank you all so much for your prayers for Rhyan. She is blissfully unaware of the happenings planned for tomorrow. And I am doing my best to rest in Jesus and trust that He's got it all under control. The control-freak side of me has real issues with this :-/. But, alas, i have no choice. Jeff is as cool as a cucumber, as always. Our rock. Man, i love him.
Rhyan, having a blast crawling all over the place...
In the bathtub... if she cant hold all three toys, she'll just use her mouth :-)
What a happy girl... such a sweet blessing to us!
Practicing her new skill... i had walked in and told her to lay down and go to sleep. This is the look i get... haha

Rhyan's Surgical Consult

Its late and i'm tired and i've repeated this story a minimum of 8 times today, so i'll keep it brief and promise to post more details later.

Rhyan had her surgical consult with Dr Burnstein today. Jeff took the afternoon off and went with me and i'm glad. Dr. B was very nice but does think Rhyan should have surgery. So we are on his schedule for an outpatient surgery on Friday, April 23. We dont have a time yet and i've not had time to read over all the materials in order that i be able to share all the details of the surgery, yet.

What we do know is that the incision will be behind her left ear and will be done with endoscopic tools. It will take about an hour. He feels certain that she has scar tissue built up on the muscle and says that while therapy has released a good bit of the muscle, there is more that simply will not release w/o surgery. She will wear a soft collar for about a week after and we should expect about a day for recovery (kids are resilient, they say, and prefer to play over throwing a pity party like us adults!).

Dr B actually developed this particular approach to the surgery (doing it endoscopically) and by doing so he is able to hide the scar and avoid cutting nerves that could potentially lead to the atrophy of the lower part of the muscle. This will allow her neck to look normal :-) He is the only dr in the world to do this surgery in this particular way and has performed it on over 400 babies since developing the approach. He says its "quite easy" to do and that is really not painful for the babies. I trust him. He seems like good people :-)

Rhyan was an absolute angel while we were at his office. She missed her afternoon nap (short of the catnaps she got on the way there and back) but was so well behaved. She really is such a blessing. I hate that she has to go through all of this, but it was so nice to hear the words "after surgery you'll do 6-8 weeks of physical therapy and then she'll be DONE". Done? What does that mean?! HA! What will we do with ourselves if we're not going to weekly therapy appointments for the rest of our lives?! :-)

So i didnt keep it all that short and did give details. I guess i got a burst of typing energy. I really do plan to post pics soon. I caught some cute ones in the tub the other day. She's really SO much fun these days. If i havent mentioned it, she's pulling up on EVERYTHING. Falling a alot and getting lots of bumps and bruises, but with each day she's standing longer and longer. She tries taking her hands off of whatever she's propped up on sometimes (and subsequently falls...). We're trying hard to not react to her falling so that she wont react. I think it's going well. She'll fall, look to us and if we dont look at her she'll fuss just a little and then go on. If we do look at her, all heck breaks loose and she cries. The girl knows how to milk a cow, what can i say?

I love her, thats all i know :-)

SLOW DOWN!!!

In the words of her daddy, Rhyan is "developing very quickly". She started crawling 2 weeks ago today and already she's pulling up! She started this weekend at Jeff's parents house (Showoff!!). It was so fun for them to get to be the first to see her (along with us). Since then, she's learned to pull up on our couch and in her bed! Oops!!! Anyways, it really seems that she's growing SOOOO fast! For the longest time she was our little "paperweight baby". And now we have to watch her every move! It's exhausting :-). But so much fun watching her grow!

In regards to an update on Rhyan's neck. At therapy on Monday, i went in fully prepared to ask for a referral for a surgical consult. I truly feel like we've exhausted the therapy and are seeing little to no improvement. So i mentioned it and her therapist, Anitra, agreed that its time for a consult. So we have an appointment next Tuesday afternoon at 2pm with Dr Bernstein (a plastic surgeon) in Atlanta. You can check out the office website here to learn more about him. He is a plastic surgeon but he specializes not only in boobs (haha) but also in craniofacial abnormalities such as torticollis. A good friend of ours (blog friends!) daughter had torticollis as well and required surgery by the very same doctor just a few months back. Anyways, please be in prayer for God to grant to us wisdom on how best to proceed. We dont want surgery, obviously... but we want Rhyan to be done with these issues. So we covet your prayers.

In all seriousness, Dr B is no typical plastic surgeon. He and Dr Williams are a team of dr's who work with Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta. Learn more here.

If you want to have a better understanding of why she has torticollis, click here.

And to read a little from Dr Bernsteins website about torticollis, click here and scroll to the bottom.

Head/Neck update...

I took Rhyan to Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta for her follow up head scan today. She is only wearing her helmet at night these days so i was nervous about how she would be looking. But i'm happy to report that she's down to a 7.2mm difference. Let me put this in perspective for you. First off, we're speaking in millimeters difference in the shape of the roundness of her head as the left side compares to the right. They get this measurement by taking a digital scan of her head and then digitally taking a spliced section of the widest part of the head (as if you were looking down on her head, the widest part) and ask the computer to take diagonal measurements. Rhyan started with an 18.9mm difference. Richard, the head scan guy, said when a kid starts with that big of a difference, they have the goal of getting them under 10mm. They feel if they accomplish less than 10mm,they have done well. So for Rhyan to be at 7.2mm and still being as young as she is (meaning she still has time to see even more improvement) is phenomenal!!! It is very exciting for us. The "normal" range for someone who has never had a neck condition like hers is a 6mm difference. So she should get very close to that. YAY!

We also went to therapy today. She has a collar that they made for her to wear that keeps her from tilting her head to the side. We havent been having her wear it b/c there were some issues w/ it, but they fixed those today. We saw a new lady (who will be her permanent new lady... no more switching) named Anitra. Anitra was very nice and very understanding of my concerns that we've not seen improvement lately. She did admit the neck muscle is still very tight and said to keep working on it and she'll decide next week, if we've not seen improvement, that she'll give us a referral for surgery. I know, its not great, but its at least moving forward. Being stagnant is no good :-(


She also said Rhyan is a "long way from crawling" b/c her tummy muscles arent strong enough. So no more jumper or exersaucer. Floor time only. We have to practice being on hands and knees, reaching far in front of her while sitting so she can grab a toy and "baby sit ups". We're deeming this to be: CRAWLING BOOT CAMP. I'm sure Rhyan will love it :-)

Ok, prayers still appreciated as we seek wisdom on how to move forward with treating our baby girl.

Update

Rhyan went to therapy yesterday. Her Daddy took her :-) Her new therapist, Diane, said she still has about a 10 degree tilt in her neck (to the left) and that we want between 0-5 degrees. They fitted her with a collar to wear that will help her want to keep her head up/shoulder down and she tolerates it ok. I cant really describe it so i'll try to catch a pic of her wearing it sometime.

She's been sick this week. She's had a cold and I was concerned about her cough so i took her to the Dr Wed. She was "fine" and her "lungs sound great!". Today, however, i could hear her wheezing. So at the risk of looking like an idiot/crazed 1st time mom, i took her back for another check and $35 copay. And i'm glad i did. Baby girl has bronchitis.

I told the dr that w/ Jeff having ear infections growing up, he's very protective/concerned w/ her ears. And that since i grew up with asthma and constantly got bronchitis, i'm always concerned w/ her lungs. So between the 2 of us, she doesnt go unchecked for much :-) But, i'm glad i've had experience w/ this b/c we have to use an inhaler w/ Rhyan for a couple of weeks which I'm a pro at!

Anyways, she's definitely feeling better which is great. She has 3 of the top 4 teeth in and that last one you can literally see through the gum, so it'll come any day now. Poor girl is going through a lot! But we're on the tail end now and things are looking up!

Rhyan's Head!

We went for Rhyan's head scan today and got some GREAT news! Her head has gone from 18.9mm difference (from one side to the other) to 12.2mm. This is EXCELLENT! They said she'd probably need to wear it another 6-8 weeks full time and then we could go to only at night for 2 months or so. Of course, this all depends on her growth in the next 6 weeks. Wearing it at night would be to make sure it doesnt get flat again. At around 10 months, they feel certain that her head would be hard enough that even if she continues sleeping w/ her head turned to the right, it'll stay round.
Her neck has hit somewhat of a standstill. She is not making it past 80 degrees and Courtney is concerned with that. She still struggles to get to 80 degrees. So Courtney encouraged us to work HARD on home therapy. It's SO hard to do that b/c she just cries (mostly out of frustration) and it's hard to get her to calm down afterwords. But we're going to have to do it, i guess, and see if that helps. Otherwise, she is concerned that her muscle could be getting fibrotic. Lets hope not. So please keep praying about her neck and that we would continue working with her. But for today, we are praising our Father for the great news about her head! Rhayn and I are both so happy! Theres a new post below from Halloween, too!

No proof in a picture, but...

Rhyan lay down today with her head to the LEFT!!!!! She was on her tummy in the sunroom while i was in the kitchen piddling and she looked over to me and lay her head down. And she left it like that for 3-4 minutes, i guess. Her shoulder wasnt lifted or cocked up or anything. Funny thing, though, she was laying there with her arms straight out (like you would do if you were pretending to be an airplane.) So her body looked like -i- but of course unlike the symbol, she has legs.
Ok, so i'm trying to be creative w/ letters and punctuation marks. You get the point, i'm sure.
Anyways, i just kept saying to jeff (and to my mommie when she got here) "look at that! i cant believe it! She's doing so great! dont you think? Jeff? dont you think? mommie? dont you think so too? i'm so proud! She's just doing so great. look at that! isnt it exciting"....
and so on. yeah, they were as tired of me going on and on as you probably are reading it, but it was exciting and i am proud :-)

Start Spreading the News!!!

Yes, i hope you thought of the song when you read the title.

Great news! Rhyan had an adjustment on her helmet and a therapy appointment today. Diane, her therapist for the day, said that she was really improving! Her original measurments were as follows:

turning her head to the right-100 degrees
turning to the left-65 degrees
tilting head to the left-65degrees
tilting to the right-45 degrees

As of today, the measurements are as follows:

turning to right-105 degrees
turning left- 90 degrees!!!!
tilting to left- 70 degrees
tilting to right- 65 degrees

She is also holding her head in midline without pulling her shoulder (left shoulder) up to her ear. YAY!!!! She did really great today. Yes, she fussed. She always does at some point or another. But she worked really hard. In fact, she did some new exercises today because she's getting more advanced and needs more advanced workouts :-) lol.

Anyways, I'm grateful for her progress. For her stubbornness. As frustrating as it can be, that personality trait makes her die hard at getting to do something she wants to.

Loving FALL!!

Fall is by far my very favorite time of year. I can leave the windows open and not be covered in pollen! The temperature is just ideal. There is nothing better than sitting on the back porch and eating breakfast while doing my bible study on a cool morning while Rhyan takes her nap! PERFECTION is found in fall :-)

Ok, now that i've gushed about how much i love this time of year... on to an update on Rhyan. She is doing really well again w/ her helmet. There is one small place on the back of her neck that we need to have adjusted. But its small and not that bad. So she's still wearing it in the meantime. I think we caught her in a growth spurt when we got the helmet. Richard (the helmet dude) said if you do, you tend to have a couple of rough weeks at the beginning b/c of the baby's head growing. So you need more adjustments. The upside is that you see change more quickly. And i have to say that Jeff and I both think her head is already looking better. AMAZING!!!

Last night we had the most upsetting thing happen. At just before midnight, Rhyan woke up crying (hard). Not like she was hurting... rather, as if something had upset or scared her. She hasnt woken up in the night since she was 8 weeks old so it scared me to death! I jumped out of bed to run to her and as i was trying to call for help, my voice would barely work. I was that scared. Keep in mind, she was fine! But my heart was so upset at hearing her cry out of no where. I held her, changed her and cried over her long after she had quit crying. After making sure nothing was wrong, we put her back to bed. Jeff said he thought maybe she had a bad dream! POOR BABY!!! She went right back to sleep. I, however, lay in bed crying and so shook up for a good 10 minutes. Jeff prayed for her (and me) and i tried SO hard to get over it... I still cant believe how it affected me. She almost NEVER cries. And i'm glad. My heart cant really take it.

Anyways, all is well around here. I guess i got a "wake up call" so to speak last night of just how much i love and long to protect my little girl. Even from bad dreams! :-)

Set Backs...

I hate set backs. When i get started on something, i just want to continue till i'm done.

Rhyan's helmet has been rubbing a place on her face. It's where the little side-burn part of her helmet is... just above and in front of the ear. Sunday it was pink, Monday it was RED. We left it off (per the therapists advice) on monday from 11am-bedtime. We had it adjusted monday, as well. But when we got her up on Tuesday and took it off (normally we wouldnt take it off, but needed to check the spot) it was BLOOD red! You can see in this pic (if you click on it) the red spot... this was sunday, before it got super red. POOR BABY! So the helmet adjustment guy, Richard, said to put diaper cream on it and leave it off until the area healed completely.

And then start over. AHH!! NO! I dont want it to hurt her little head, but i also wish it would just be ok for her so she could wear it the 23 hours and be that much closer to getting it off.

She hasnt been fussy about it or anything. She is such a good baby. So tough.

So please, pray with us that she will heal and that setbacks will be minimal.

Having said all of that, its been really nice to cuddle with her and not have that hard helmet between us :-). There are up-sides to everything!

Update on Rhyan and her helmet!

Rhyan is doing GREAT~

I am really so very proud of her. She has not seemed to be bothered by her helmet at all. She has napped like normal. She' s a great sleeper and believe me, the child needs her sleep. Last night was the first night she had to wear it to bed, so of course i was concerned that she would be bothered by it... but she wasn't. She slept like a champ. I have been worried about her overheating, so i bought some of the thin white cotton short sleeved onesies for her to wear instead of her footed sleepers. The girl doesn't mind sleeping while a little cool, but sweats like crazy if she's a little overheated (hmmm... sounds like a certain Daddy i know...). So she and Jeff have that in common.

She is working very hard to turn over to her left. This is so great because that is the way its hard for her to turn her head. So to see her working at it and doing SO well is very encouraging. Courtney (her therapist) said we'd probably have to work w/ her a while to get her to turning that way. I'll admit, I've worked with her some (a little each day) but not tons... so this is really by her own prompting. She's definitely strong willed and stubborn. Which in this case is really great. She's not letting a little torticollis get in the way of her getting around!

She is pushing herself up with her arms so that her chest is completely off the floor. She is also pulling her knees under her while on her tummy... i have a feeling crawling will come in the not so distant future. Jeff said he prefers her to be a paper weight baby. Haha. It is exciting to think that she'll be on the move soon. Um, scary, but exciting!

Rhyan has turned into a TUMMY sleeper! This is hilarious to me b/c Jeff sleeps on his tummy every night while i sleep on my back (he says i look like a corpse sometimes!). So to see her sleeping like her daddy, being hot natured like her daddy... well, its sweet. I love Jeff. And i love seeing his traits in our daughter :-) If only she'll be as sweet as he is. But alas, the stubborn side of me seems to be quite strong in her, as well. She HATES being woke up. Yep, thats like me. As long as she wakes on her own, you wont find a happier baby. But if you interrupt her sleep... beware. She's gonna protest w/ crying. And with attitude. She gives looks to kill.

Anyways, Rhyan is doing really well. We will have a scan on Nov 2nd to see how her head shape is progressing. Jeff and I love every minute we have with her. We really are so blessed!

Helmet Time

Rhyan is adjusting well to her helmet. She doesnt like it when we first put it on, but quickly gets used to it. She is still rolling over like crazy and holding her head up well!

Here, she's reading her book :-). Yes, my child is clearly brilliant.














Still smiling!














This morning, eating cereal. Which has her constipated, btw... SAD!














Our first "mother-daughter" chat. She's such a good listener.














Daddy wanted a pic of his 2 babies. Unfortunately, Spud hasnt mastered smiling for the camera like Rhyan has.

Rhyan's helmet and My heart...

I dont know how to express how i feel. Anxious. Fearful. Glad.

I'm anxious about her helmet for a few reasons. I'm hoping it wont disrupt her sleeping. I wonder if people will think we did something wrong that caused her to have to wear it. I wonder if it will bother her.

I'm fearful that she will slow developmentally. That it wont help. Or that it wont work as quickly as we'd hope.

I'm glad to be moving on with it. To be getting it and starting this process. So that in a few months, i can look back at this post and think "how silly was i to worry!".

I'm ready for tomorrow. But i dont think my heart is.
I really do realize that its not that big a deal. In my head. Its just this heart that bothers me!

But i take comfort in knowing that Rhyan is FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY made. And that her Creator is also her Father who loves her more than I (is that really possible???) and that she is in HIS hands. Even for simple things like this that I, her worrier of a mommy, get upset over. He has it all under control.

Sometimes i just need to remind myself.

Update on Rhyan's little head

Well, its official. Rhyan's head shape has not improved and she is still in the "severe" category with an 18.8mm difference in the symmetry between the right and left sides of her skull. Her facial symmetry is still very good at 97% (a 1% improvement from last month) which is nice. Her torticollis is improving according to Courtney, her physical therapist. Last month, her range of motion for turning to the left (to look over her shoulder) was 60 degrees. This month its 70! Thats GREAT! And her tilting has improved from 55 to 60 degrees. Courtney was excited about this because she says that 60-65 degrees for a tilt (touching ear to shoulder) is a "normal" range. So this is good news! Courtney was, however, concerned with Rhyan's back which seems to be curving a little more. We had seen some improvement last month with her back muscles being a little more even in strength, but we are guessing that because she's doing the exersaucer and bumbo seat more, she's naturally curving the way its most comfortable and making her back a little worse. We were doing our best to keep her off of her head in attempt to help the molding, but since that's obviously not working, we'll go back to working on her back more.

We are going to appeal the insurance which says they wont pay for her helmet, so please be praying that someone who is really compassionate or really stupid reviews her case. In either situation, we'd just appreciate it being paid for. We are going ahead and paying for it out of pocket to make sure we get the "in cash up front" 20% discount, bringing the total down to a little over $2600.00. We're thinking... who need's a college fund anyways? Pshhhhhh...

The helmet is light purple with butterflies on it. And hopefully with her being so young when she gets it, she wont mind it. She'll wear it 23 hours a day for 3-4 months.

On my end, i've shed all the tears over this situation that i'm going to (i hope). No, i obviously dont want her to have to wear a helmet. But the fact is, its temporary. It'll help with her torticollis. It'll make her even more beautiful and perfect than she already is. Is that possible? Probably not in my eyes, but realistically, yes... her head could use some help :-) So, we're getting it for her.

'Tude

Jeff, Courtney (rhyan's physical therapist) and I have decided that our little gal has some serious attitude. We are trying desperately to do all of her stretches, have her do LOTS of tummy time, prop her on her left side if she's on her back... all in attempt to not only help with her torticollis, but to keep her off of the flat spot on her head. At this point she's very capable of turning her head to the left, but her little head falls into that flat spot naturally.

Back to the "tude". Rhyan has always hated for you to do the neck stretches, but now she anticipates it. You can touch the right side of her head (to push it to the left) and as soon as your fingers touch her face, she will turn her head quickly to the right. Its as if she's saying "um, i dont think so". And then she fusses like crazy when you do the stretches. Funny thing is, it doestn hurt her! I'm sure it would if we pushed very hard, but there is a distinct difference in her fussing and crying. As soon as we quit stretching her, she stops fussing. WHAT A BOOGER!

Anyways, Courtney said she is stubborn and showing her little attitude. Oh my. What will the teen years bring... start praying people! :-)

In love

With this face!

And how does she end up like this in the morning?? What a wiggler!

Rhyan is starting to (randomly and occasionally) laugh. It sounds like a grunt. I love it.

She's getting a little attitude when you go to stretch her neck which is making her exercises harder... and her little head is pretty flat on the right. Our insurance is saying they wont pay for a helmet if she needs one and it would be $3500 out of pocket. Yeah, i'll be appealing that.

I never knew life could be so good. So fufilling. I have a wonderful husband who I've been lucky enough to share my life with for the last 13 years! 8 of those as his wife. A beautiful baby girl. And spud. What gal could ask for more!

Quick update...

The orthopedist said Rhyan's back looks fine and that he'll check her in a year when she has more trunk control but that he expects it all to be just fine. He also (roughly) handled her neck to check her torticollis and said she's doing great there as well!

Praise the Lord!!! and thanks for the prayers :-)