A lot of you have asked about Ella's physical therapy so I thought I would give you some of the notes from today. The chair shown here is Ella's new (well, used) Tumble form feeder seat for supported sit. The PT thinks this is a great position for Ella and we are going to practice keeping her head in the middle as well as trying to get her to grab things from it. We dangle a great toy in front of her and try to get her to reach for it and pull it towards her. We are also supposed to play pat-a-cake with her...that's her grandma's job while she's her from Iowa this week. Ella also does strengthening excersises on a ball (like a smaller version of a yoga ball) and they do floor excersies. Mostly working on head control, core strength and stability. We have been told to try and get Ella to hold her own bottle...we have to practice this everytime we feed her and it's difficult to try and feed her AND get her hands on the bottle. One of the signs that she has neurological problems is that her hands are usually fisted and rarely become unclenched...so getting her to hold anything is difficult. Her Grandpa Roughton was working with her on this by using rings to practice "water skiing". We've noticed that she's been getting upset in crowds or when people have strong perfumes on...they said that her nervous system is very fragile and is more sensative than average kids...so PLEASE don't take offence if she gets upset around you!! Oh, Ella gets a massage twice a day now to keep her nerves in check bc babies with neurological problems usually don't like being touched much...take note, when she's older I want 2 massages a day!!
Prayer Request: As I mentioned earlier, Ella keeps her hands fisted a lot of times. We need prayer that over the next month she starts to open her hands more so that we don't have to use hand splints...these act a lot like the thumb loops we had in the NICU and her first couple of weeks home...she didn't like them much.
1 comment:
You guys are doing a great job caring for Ella! She is so beautiful and we would have expected nothing less. We will continue to pray for you and pray that God will also renew your spirts each day so that you can do all of the things that Ella is needing. We are so blessed to have you all in our lives, and we are here for you guys whenever you need company, rest, comfortable silence, support, and certainly prayers. We love you guys! Keep up the good love (some say work)!
Jods (&Keeter Family)
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