Change in Plans

Hal got a phone call from Dr. Grundwalt's office this week. They called to postpone Paige's palate surgery. They are now saying they think she is too young. They told us all along that 9 months was okay because she was doing so well. Now they are saying they want her off the bottle for a whole month and that they will wait till she's 11 months. So her new surgery date is July 16th. I'm pretty annoyed but kinda releaved. It has been hard to take her bottle away from her, she's sooo young. But, this gives us a little more time to get her switched completely to a sippy. Which she is doing really well at. I had just planned to have her off and ready to go by surgery. Now they are being a little more picky about it. Not quite sure why. We were suppose to go to a cleft team meeting on Monday. Erica and I think that she got bumped because another kid needed to get scheduled and they figured she was young anyways. Other than that, not sure what has changed in 2 weeks when Hal was there and they were saying we were still on for the surgery. They also told Hal that she could have her touch up surgery when she is 3 and not 5 but now I'm not holding my breath for that. ARG!

Anyways, Paige is doing really well. She is starting to really motor around. She is babbling really well and is just a ball full of energy. She is one of the sweetest (with Maddie and Owen included in there) babies I know. Paige literally can light up a room and she's sooo good all the time. (knock on wood). She's literally an angel baby!

Well, anyways, just a quick note to inform all that surgery has indeed been postponed. I guess it too gives me more time to figure out who is going to be watching Owen and Maddie during that time too. I guess we will see.

Thanks for reading!

March of Dimes

Recently, I was contacted by a representative in Germany asking if I would be interested in using Paige as a spokesperson for the March of Dimes there. One of my very good friends live there and she must have told her our story. Of course, if it gets more help for cleft lip and palate research, I would do almost anything. The March of Dimes does research for cleft lip and palate. So I said yes. I wanted to share with you the poster that they used with Paige's face on it. I was proud to be her mama!

Great news!

We have a.....


HEARING CHILD!!

I took Paige to Pittsburgh for more testing. They retested both of her ears and the left ear passed! This is huge considering that's the one that failed at birth! But her right ear is just too full of fluid to tell. They said it shows that the tube is blocked with something, such as a ton of drainage. Duh!??!! :) So they will retest her hearing after her palate surgery at the end of May when the drainage has stopped. Hopefully at that point, no more hearing issues! The ENT said that she will probably not need more tubes replaced until next summer. Which is good! But he will check them out at palate repair time.

So that's the news in a nutshell but I'm really happy to finally have a passed hearing exam! Made my week!

Was thinking...

of putting a password on my blog! And then only giving it to the people to comment.


:)

Update Sunday!

Just thought I would post a mini update. Paige meets with Early Intervention tomorrow. It's just the initial paperwork to see if she qualifies for services. They already said that she would qualify but that I would just get a choice if I want to start now or later. I'm torn by all of this. I'll say why... so I know I'm not perfect but I am a qualified special education teacher. I do know quite a bit about cleft lip and palate. I know a lot about speech too. Plus, it doesn't hurt that my sister is a speech pathologist. I know a lot of sign language so that's something I'm already teaching her. So at this point, do I really want to worry about an hour a week of therapy that really isn't going to do much good at this point. She's saying vowel sounds. She can't say constant sounds because there is no palate. She moves her tongue like a crazy woman. She is nasally when she gabs but wouldn't you be if you could put your tongue to your nose inside. :) She is developmentally where she needs to be. She rolls, sits like a pro, and so much more. She's a happy baby. She is responding to sounds! (Getting sooo much better btw). So do I really need someone to come to my house and tell me what I already know. Not sure yet? She will get evaluated for 2 hours in a couple of weeks. So at this point I will know more of what they think she is capable of doing. If there is a huge delay, I will go ahead with it. But, I guarantee you, there isn't. She's just like any other baby. Jonathan (Jen's baby boy) and Lily (Erica's clefty beauty) are all within weeks of Paige and they are developmentally the same. Lily is a tad older than Paige and so is Jon but they all are doing the same. Plus, this is my 3rd child and I know quite about about child development (I guess I would have to with my current job). So I just don't know.

I know at this point I'm rambling.

Would it hurt to start Early Intervention, no! Probably wouldn't hurt but I also want someone who is already been working with cleft babies. I don't want any old Joe that knows a tad about clefts. I already have had a bad experience with an idiot peditrician that I wanted to rip apart. I don't need an idiot therapist too. Oh another note, Paige really is doing awesome. She has been responding to sounds really well. I have gotten a lot of wax outta her ears since we stopped the drops so I'm hoping she is doing better now. She will get retested April 5th in Pittsburgh! Here's to hoping!!

Plus, I think if you made it through this long boring post, then you deserve a prize...so here's Miss Paige in her favorite toy!

Enjoy...

Memory Monday

Paige's First Signs

I actually started to sign to Paige a couple of weeks ago. But now that I have to really teach it to her, it's important for the people around her to do it also. Therefore, I will start to list the signs she is learning.

If you are around Paige, please learn these signs so you can communicate with her. That includes; Grandparents, aunts, Uncles, cousins, daycare providers, ect.

Thanks!

Paige's signs:

MORE
ALL DONE
MILK
EAT