Prayer Request For Johnathan and Madelyn

Today I took Johnathan and Madelyn to thier first orthopeadic follow-up appointment. Overall everything is looking good with Mady, however, the doctor wants to continue following her just to make sure that her bones continue to develop and grow as expected. She will have an ultrasound done in two weeks to re-check her femur and she will have an x-ray next week to verify that everything is fine with her spine so that we can proceed with doing more extensive stretching of her neck to further develop her range of motion looking left. She has improved a lot in the last week with us really working with her so we are encouraged by that! The doctor did mention (as we already know) that if the shape of her head doesn't correct itself by her looking left and midline vs. constantly right that she will need a helmet to cosmetically correct the misshape. So for Madelyn, please pray that with us continuing to work with her that she a) she develops properly and b) that her head shape corrects itself. I am thankful that the option of wearing the helmet is available as it will correct it if need be but it is a HUGE commitment to wear that helmet in order for it to work it has to be on 23 hours a day for a few months and with everything else our babies (and us) are facing I'd really prefer it if we could pass on this one!

So Johnathan's follow-up didn't go as well. He does have left hip dysplasia and is now in a harness, every day, 24 hours a day. He was so upset when they put it on, I couldn't help but break down and cry, I felt so bad for all that our little man has gone thru and all that he's already going thru with the hearing aids. Again, I am SO thankful that there are measures available to correct these things, that he will never remember it, and most importantly that we are even facing these things because our babies are with us, it's just still hard repeatedly dealing with these challenges. The prediction is that provided the harness does the job, he will only have to wear it for a few months, with it reducing to only needing to wear it at night for awhile. We will know at our next appointment in two weeks when they do another ultrasound if the harness is working, if not Johnathan will have to have surgery like I did and be casted for quite a few months to correct it. So for Johnathan, please pray that the harness does work and that he doesn't need to have surgery.

Johnathan's wardrobe has dramatically reduced recently. Because of how the harness fits, he can't wear many outfits right now and due to his hearing aids he won't be able to wear turtlenecks or overalls until he grows more and can sit up on his own as they tend to knock out his hearing aids.

On a better note, Annabel has been holding her head up so well during tummy time lately and has been rolling over a lot!! She has also been babbling more so of course we are very happy and relieved about that! Here's an adorable picture of her and Chloe to top off today's blog.