She Laughed

Well, it happened….the much anticipated laugh from our darling girl!!! She laughed!!! Oh, how sweet the sound of the first laugh coming from our sweet girl!!! Brad had made it his job to make her laugh, ever since she was discharged. A long time coming and boy was it good!! Tears of joy for all 🙂  She’s always pretty content and just the sweetest thing!! It’s always pretty easy to get her to smile, but the laugh did our hearts good.  Thank you Jesus for the joyous laughter you have bestowed in Poppy 🙂  Can’t get enough of it!!

Poppy has been teething up a storm…gnawing, drooling, running a low grade temp now for what seems to be a month or so.  Still no teeth, but I do see buds just beneath her gums!! One of the anti-rejection drugs she’s on, Cyclosporine, makes the gums thick, so teething will just be a long process.  But she is really handling it like a champ!! Hallelujah!  Also, last week at her speech therapy, her therapist saw NO ORAL AVERSION!!!!! I mean, what?!!!?!?! Her therapist was all over and in her mouth and nothing!! Not a gag in sight!! This is nothing short of a MIRACLE in itself!!! She has been really getting good at putting a spoon loaded with chunky puree into her mouth and slowly working it into her mouth and even chewing and swallowing a little!!! She seems to really do well when she’s in control of the spoon, which I think is great!! I am super excited about her new cup I found.  It is SOO cool!! It has handles, but not a spout for sucking, instead it has a lid that when pressure is placed, it allows a tiny flow of liquid into the mouth!! Perfect for kiddos who don’t suck well.  She is slowly getting the hang of it, but we are hopeful!! A cup that has handles and doesn’t require a suck?! Woohoo!! Hallelujah!! Soo glad we gave it a whirl!!

As far as her physical progress, not much change to report.  She’s working hard numerous times a day on rolling, reaching, and sitting. Progress is slow, but we just keep working away.  She is a joy to work/play with 😉 Both of them are such sweet blessings 🙂 Lately, she has not been sleeping well, and has started stemming.  We would love prayer for both.

The Transplant Team  is still in conversation about her eye surgery. If they can coordinate it to happen at the same time as her 1-year post transplant heart cath/biopsy procedure (monitors for rejection), it sounds like they may go for it.  They are both sterile procedures, and that is the reason they are even entertaining the idea of doing both procedures while she is under.  And there’s still a likely chance that it won’t work out, but they are talking!! Praise God for such a devoted medical team that is willing to try. If it cannot be done while she is under for her cath, then we really don’t know if they will go for it.  The eye surgery will also require her to be under anesthesia, and we just don’t know how comfortable the team would be with her going under just for that it at this point in time.  Still praying…God’s will will be done.

Crosby, on the other hand, had us worried for a good 10 days.  He had flu like symptoms and just looked awful- no explanation for it!! No one else ever got sick (over 10 day time frame), and he just was NOT himself.  A few trips to the ER and the pediatrician, we decided it must be an allergic reaction to an antibiotic.  Low and behold, a few days off, and he’s back to himself!! Praise God!! Kind of a scary way to find out about an allergy, but we’re so glad we entertained that possibility. Poor babe 😦

It has been so fun to see how he is with his sister.  He shows her how he chews at every mealtime and even pulls out his bear (who also has a feeding tube) to do her physical therapy with her 😉 It is the sweetest thing.  He’s always wanting to hold her and include her.  How blessed we are to be able to witness such love and compassion between our babies.  It’s pretty amazing.