6 Months Old!

Lucy is 6 months old!  We can hardly believe it.  She is at such a perfect size for cuddling - even if she doesn't really like to cuddle!  Snuggling her close when she is falling asleep or waking up is the sweetest thing and the smiles she gives when she sees another human in the morning are too cute.  It's fun to hear her blowing bubbles and playing in her crib when she wakes up before we come to get her up.

We've had 3 very good reports this week at her doctor's visits:

1.  Neurology - the doc thought she was doing great and her shunt is still programmed correctly.  We left with some material about what to look for regarding shunt malfunction and plans for an MRI in a few weeks.

2.  Cardiology - Lucy had an echo (which she slept through, thankfully!) which showed that she still has a small murmur/hole in her heart (VSD), but the doc thought that follow-up in a year is all she needs - Great news!

3.  ENT - Lucy still has stridor, sometimes she is perfectly quiet, other times she is very noisy.  At this point, she doesn't need intervention, so we are hoping that it will gradually improve as she gets older without having to have surgery.

We really liked all of the doctors that we saw and feel very confident in their abilities to recommend the best course of care for Lucy going forward.  They are also very helpful in coordinating her care with other docs so that they can take a "whole person" view of her care, which is great.

She is up to 14 lbs, 7 ounces, and has almost grown to 2 feet tall!  She is rolling both ways now and is close to sitting up by herself.  Feeding cereal and veggies is going better than a bottle, but it is still slow going.  We are very careful to give her thinned out liquids and she does pretty well - only a few occasions of spitting up, gagging and/or inhaling the food instead of swallowing it.  As we have known, the eating thing will definitely be the longest path on her road to recovery (at least physically).

Overall, she's doing great and continues to amaze us with her progress!  Just think, a short two months ago we were just bringing her home.  I can't help but think of all the families with babies in the NICU over the Christmas season and my heart goes out to them - it would be a tough holiday to spend in the hospital.

Lucy meeting her friend Blake for the first time - he's just a couple weeks younger than Lucy!

We hope that you are enjoying the holiday season with friends and family and are grateful that we have been able to be in contact with so many of you - through emails, calls, Christmas cards or visits.