This is a long one but so much to update on!! 20 ½ weeks, so exciting!! I feel her kick and look at my ever growing belly and am just so happy to be fortunate enough to be pregnant again. I am amazed that we have been blessed with 4 miracle babies. I keep praying for these next weeks to go by with no complications; I will feel much better when I’ve hit the 30 week mark. I had another OB visit on April 14th to measure my cervix. It measured at 3.5 – 3.7cm, while this is down from the 5.2cms two weeks before, the doctor assured me that this is a great measurement for 19 weeks! I did express my concern that it made me a little nervous because that is how my body responded with the trio, starting to shorten around this gestation and then at 21 weeks was drastically shorter.
At this appointment I was able to hear the baby’s heartbeat with the doplar! I had never been able to do this with the trio because with three there was way too much movement and you could never tell which babies heartbeat was being heard. Boy was she active at first! Loved it!! She is also currently residing just like Annabel was, head right against my cervix. So when they measured me I got to see her little brain and it’s right on track for development! I do pray she moves up soon though, don’t like the thought of extra pressure on that cervix… The doctor did tell me at this appointment that because I will turn 37 weeks on a Saturday, it looks like Monday, August 22nd will be my scheduled c-section and I will come in on Saturday and Sunday to triage to get the steroid shots for the baby’s lungs. Pretty exciting to have a date in mind!!
The first picture is from 18 weeks (while in NY) and the second is a 19 week picture.
Now on to updates for the trio! We started potty training on April 1st and by Monday, the 4th Mady and John had it down pretty good! We left Wednesday for NY for a few days and both of them stayed dry on the way out and on the way back (an 8 ½ hour drive), going potty in the rest stops along the way! Johnathan does have accidents here and there with #2 and Mady has started holding #2 until either naps (when they have pull-ups) or nighttime (when they have diapers). Other than that they’re in underwear and knock on wood, neither of them have had a mess at school or at therapies or in the house (both of them did once because of playing and forgetting to stop and go but they’ve also both come in from outside to go when playing). So overall they’re doing very well and we are so proud of them!! Annabel keeps coming into the bathroom when they’re going so we’re letting her check it out and talk to her a lot about what she’s done in her diaper and are hoping that we may be able to start sitting her on a potty soon too. The hard part with her is that she doesn’t have the words to tell us she needs to go (maybe we’ll have to do a sign for this one?) but she does know when she’s going so we will see. Not something I’m going to worry about or push real hard with her yet but she may just surprise us!
As I mentioned we went to NY April 6-10 and had a great time seeing family and friends and having the trio play with their cousins! The kids had a new bedroom set-up since they’ve outgrown the pack-n-plays. Johnathan and Madelyn now have their own little blow-up beds and Annabel is in the crib. They loved their special beds with their favorite character blankets! The weather was pretty nice so the kids were able to play outside quite a bit. The trio definitely love lots of land and dirt and riding on things like Grandpa’s tractor or gator. Really wish we had some more land, maybe someday! The dogs had a great time running with their cousins Pete and Milt, and going swimming in the pond. We are fortunate that both our parents have land and ponds for the kids and the dogs to enjoy! These are some pictures from the trip.
Overall the kids are doing great! We had a cold go thru the house again but they’ve fought thru it well. It’s hard to believe that there are only 6 more weeks of school and they’ll have completed a whole year! We have been so fortunate with the program they’re in. The things they’ve learned, including social interactions (especially for Annabel), has been amazing! We’ve been playing outside a lot, riding bikes or scooters, going on walks, swinging or playing sports. I love the picture of the 3 of them ALL walking down the sidewalk together, such a huge milestone!!!
This is a video of Annabel walking across our backyard, which is fairly hilly. This is the first time she’s done this on her own, in the past she’d always reach for a hand to help her (which we knew she didn’t really need) but if you didn’t she’d just sit down and not move (can we stay stubborn girl?). She did really well, did end up falling at the end when the hill slopes back towards the sidewalk but didn’t cry at all, got back up and kept walking!!
Annabel continues to develop her gross motor skills. She has gotten up by herself in the middle of the floor a few times and is so close to consistently doing it! She is working on walking backwards , walking on different terrains, going up small steps, running, and overall awareness of other objects and how to manipulate her body/actions to accommodate objects and people. Here is a video of her walking across our backyard for the 1st time without any assistance. It’s fairly hilly and definitely different terrain than she’s used to! She did fall at the end where it starts going back down hill but she picked herself up and continued right on!
She is also continuing development in her fine motor skills, using her left hand to close the pop-up animal toy, using her right hand to put objects in a bucket and to put rings on a peg, and using both hands to hold onto things such as the rope of the platform swing. Her left hand is overall open more often than not and we are getting great weight-bearing thru it. She is also using it more and more for protective reflexes, to catch herself if she falls or simply to swat away things that annoy her (sometimes us!).
Her speech is also continuing to improve (we all just wish it would start taking off quicker but it will be on Annabel’s schedule). She continues to try new words that we work with her on and every now and then will come up with one on her own (for example she was listening to a song the other day with Dora in it and sure enough, clear as day shouted out “Dora” when it came on!). There is no doubt that Annabel is a very bright girl, I think it will help her so much if she can just get some more words out! We continue to work on single words but are also working on combining more such as “want straw” instead of just identifying the object as “straw”. She is following directions quite well lately, she follows “go get your teeth brushed, come get your coat on to go, we’re going outside, go to your chair to eat, and time to get your pajamas on”. She did start using gagging/puking to get attention again but we have gone back to the approach of ignoring her when she does it and it’s amazing, she’ll stop herself! Yeah! So when she does we then try to give her the words we think she wants and try to get her to repeat them in some way, even if it’s not exact. She is a very sharp little girl who sometimes her stubbornness works against her (and causes more headaches for us) but overall I remind myself that it’s what’s gotten her to where she is today so I just need to take a deep breath and remember that! : )
Madelyn is just amazing with her speech and the stories she comes up with! Needless to say this does get her trouble sometimes (like when she’s supposed to be eating and instead is telling a story that goes on and on or is more concerned about what her siblings are doing than her eating). Her imaginative play is so neat to watch. She’s recently really gotten into her baby doll and is now treating it like her baby sister. Yesterday Mady even stripped off her own clothes because she was changing because baby sister puked on her! Oops, guess that’s happened too much in our house with Annabel!! : ) She is at the stage where you have to be careful what’s said/done around her, she repeats and copies everything! She has learned so much in school this year, I can’t wait to see what next year will bring! She is definitely the leader in our house and the mother hen. She is also very stubborn and lately it’s been a challenge getting her to do what we need her to do and not having to repeat it a million times. I told B.J. the other day, it’s not so physically draining anymore (although that will change soon with the baby), it’s more mentally draining now since they’re always asking questions (sometimes the one will ask the same question right after you answered it for the other one!) and you’re always talking with them, etc. It is such a fun time right now though, watching each of them grow into the little people they are!
Johnathan is doing awesome with PT and the plan is for him to take a break for the summer by the end of this month. It is amazing how much stronger his core has gotten and how much better his balance and overall coordination/motor planning is! He will have another speech eval in May so we will see if he needs to resume services. The other day he gave me an 8 word sentence, I couldn’t believe it! He is very into Cars lately (specifically Lightening McQueen and Chick Hicks), he says these phrases a lot (hmmm, how about xxx or not today, maybe some other day) and his latest thing is to give 2 thumbs up! He is our little ham and I think he knows it! : )
All three got their new glasses, Johnathan and Annabel with changed scripts and so far seem to be doing well with them. In May all 3 will be participating together in an 8 week dance class at Leaps and Bounds. It will be run by the OT that Annabel and Johnathan have both seen along with therapy students from Mott college in Flint. So for Annabel there will be a one-on-one person for her, the other 2 will have more guidance, not as much hands on. I was so excited that they’re offering this as my kids love music and dance and they hadn’t been in any dance classes to date. And for all 3 to do something together, perfect!! They will even put on a little production at the end!
Last but not least, some pictures of the kids’ bedrooms. I finally got them all made up and took some pictures. Now we will see if the set-up will need to change with baby #4…
No comments:
Post a Comment