July 3rd Ally had an appointment with neurosurgery to get her stitches removed. The stitches on her belly incision must have been dissolvable because I hadn't seen anything there, but when I referred to her head to others I often called her Frankenstein since her stitches made it look a bit scary. The neurosurgeon PA that we had seen the 2nd day in the hospital saw Ally and removed the stitches. She said everything looked really good. She said while she was removing them that she actually saw the shunt work- the valve open and fluid drain down, so she wouldn't have to press on it and try to get it to work manually to make sure it was functioning properly. I learned two important things at this appointment: first, they had put in enough tubing that as long as the shunt was working it would be able to grow with her all the way to adulthood! So she has quite a bit of tubing curled up in her chest cavity! And second, shunts usually get infected as a result of outside bacteria- usually introduced with the surgery. So the farther we get from the surgery, the less likely the shunt is to get infected, because there are very few ways bacteria can be introduced to the shunt while it is inside her head.
Before we left neurosurgery I got a second copy of her MRI imaging from May. They gave us one copy in the hospital after her surgery, but I wanted a copy to take to our pediatrician. We take our copy when we travel- in case she has a shunt issue while we are out of town, we can show the hospital the 'before' pictures of her brain. That way if there's a problem they could compare any imaging they might take to the imaging done before she had the shunt placed. If the images look similar, it would indicate a shunt problem that would need to be taken care of. I never thought that as I packed to go away I would have a checklist that went something like: Clothes? Check. Toiletries? Check. Brain Imaging? Check.
When we left the neurosurgeon's office we headed to the pediatrician for her 4 month check-up. This appointment also went well. She was 10 lbs. 9 oz. which I was a little disappointed in- I was hoping for 11 lbs. She is now 0% for weight and 1% for height, but since she is a preemie this is not unusual and our pediatrician did not seem concerned. She had some eczema that we have some creme to help clear up, and otherwise she needs to continue with what she's doing. She had 2 shots and did great with them- after brain surgery, what's a couple of shots, right?
Easter Seals came by for their monthly check on the 9th. So far she is still developing on target and does not need any interventions or therapies, but as usual they will continue to see her every month to keep an eye on her development and bring in an intervention if needed.
On the 17th she went back to neurosurgery for her one month post-op appointment. Again, things looked great and she goes back again in 3 months. Originally they had told me it would be a year, but because she is an infant and her skull would be changing quite a bit they would like to see her a bit more often. It makes me feel better to know she would be watched a little more closely at first. Ally has done great with her shunt overall and it doesn't seem to bother her and now we barely notice it. It's amazing how what was such a big deal there for a while has become fairly mundane to us now. Let's hope it stays that way!
Can you see the shunt? The top-most bump (toward the top of her head) is the valve, and the next bump is the chamber where the fluid builds until it is released into the tubing. Her scar is practically non-existent- once she has hair you won't be able to see anything at all!
Luke at his first Nationals game!
The group of us- Russell's parents, Russell, Luke & I, and my brother & sister-in-law and my two nephews. Mom is behind the camera :-)
I won I won!
Gramps' girl. They hung out most of the evening while everyone else rode rides.
Well, I did get to ride on the barrel cars with Mommy, Bubba (Luke), Bubby (Ben), my cousins and Auntie!
The biggest news, however, has come here in the last week. On July 24th Ally finally rolled over! She had gotten really close a number of times but had never quite gotten all the way over. (The picture of her in the yellow dress above shows one of her many attempts and how close she'd get before she finally made it.) But this Thursday I was home with just Ben and Ally and she finally did it. I cheered and cried all at the same time. The fact that she is not only developing on a normal timeline so far in spite of her Dandy-Walker, but with being almost 6 weeks premature she is technically ahead of the curve- it is just too amazing for words. I immediately texted Russell and my parents to let them know the good news. She then proceeded to roll over a few more times that afternoon and then over the next few days chose not to show any other family members her new trick! However, the last few days she has started rolling over a lot, even in her crib at night. This is a huge milestone and we are so proud of Ally and thankful to God for her continued progress and safe-keeping.
Thank you so much for praying for Ally and our whole family. We just got word that God has provided a new job for Russell- he starts mid-August. We are so incredibly thankful for this opportunity- it means a lot of questions answered, stress relieved, and stability for our family in so many ways, and I am SO grateful and thankful, as well as proud of him and how hard he worked to find a new job. While I start back to school August 4th, I am looking forward to a new start for our whole family- a new school year for Luke and I, a new job for Russell, a new preschool for Ben, and new opportunities for our Ally-girl to grow, develop, and shine brightly.
