I must go through the valley

To stand upon the mountain of God

I love this Third Day song…and I heard it this morning on my way to the doctor’s office with Miss Ellie. I was nervous, but I kept repeating the chorus in my head b/c it just seems that we have been in this valley for so long now…but, the truth is we will stand upon the mountain of God again.

The day started E.A.R.L.Y!!! For those of you that don’t know, Ellie usually sleeps in until about 10:30. This gives me the chance to sleep rather late and get up before her to get things done. I love to have my coffee in peace and quiet right after I finish cleaning the kitchen in the morning. Weird, I know. So, B woke me up at 6am in order to get my routine done and get ready for the doctor in time (I didn’t really sleep last night anyway and B had the alarm set for 3:30am to get work done…WHAT!). Anyway, I got in and out of the shower by 6:45 and had to start trying to wake Ellie up. I whispered in her ear, “Ellie, do you want to go swimming in mommy’s bath tub?” She was so cute. She barely opened her eyes and said, “Shwimming, okay.”

I usually run late everywhere I go. Not this morning! We were out of the house by 8am and though McDonald’s and at the doctor by 8:20. I was even impressed with myself. Long story short…we got in early to see the doctor. He was awesome!!! I would recommend Dr. Davino to anyone who needs an orthopedic doctor. He was so knowledgeable about preemies and studies that are going on at different hospitals. He knew every single one of Bennett and Ellie’s doctors they had in the NICU, as well. I felt instantly comfortable with him and I trusted him to “give it to me straight.” He performed a series of little tests on Ellie. He made her walk for him, sit “criss, cross applesauce” and then return to a standing position. He checked her feet, legs, hips and spine. He was impressed with the way she has developed in spite of the fact she was born so prematurely. Then he said, “You know, 1 in 3 preemies is born with mild cerebral palsy and right now there is a study being done through TCH that has found mild CP in about 50% of preemie multiples.”

Most of you know how anal I am by now. So, you are probably thinking that I was freaking out…well; you’ll be pleasantly surprised to know that I wasn’t! I read about this last week and I was pretty well ready for us to have this discussion. To be perfectly honest I was a little relieved. I have been so scared to death about what could be wrong with her that to find out it is probably something so mild was like a weight lifted off of my heart. He said that if she were his child, he wouldn’t do anything further at this point. If she does have mild CP it is just that…MILD. There would be no point in labeling her right now b/c she isn’t having any developmental issues related to it. It is not progressive and there is basically no way to treat (very) mild CP. We could go in to neruo and have MRI’s and CT’s done, but he didn’t see the point right now. He suggested that if the trend continues that down the road we might consider having her checked. He said that braces and special shoes wouldn’t do anything for her, so basically we just need to sit tight for now. FINE WITH ME!!! What a total relief. I would have skipped out of there, but that might have looked a little strange!

So, we were back home and in our play clothes by 10:00am! B went on a “daddy mission” this weekend to find the Step 2 naturally playful sand and water table for his little Ellie Grace. Seriously, he spent Saturday and Sunday traveling around Houston to different stores trying to find it. He was finally successful yesterday and got it home and put up by 1 in the afternoon. We spent HOURS outside yesterday playing in water and digging for treasures. We actually got a nice tan. So, today I put on my bathing suit and we were out there for 3 hours playing before we had lunch and then Ellie fell asleep! For all of you parents out there…this is one of the BEST toys we have ever had. It is not only fun, but you can make it so educational and it exposes the kids to different textures as well. Instead of sand we used rice and B buried “treasures” in it for Ellie to dig up. It is an amazing toy and the last two days have been just awesome watching Ellie play with it.

So, maybe we made it to the top of a mountain today. I don’t know how long we’ll be here, but we are here today and that is an awesome feeling! I hope you are all standing on top of your mountain today!

Happy Monday!
Angie