A Little About Sophia

It has been almost 6 months since Bella and Sophia arrived and I thought I would give a little update on how Sophia is doing. Sometimes it is hard for me to tell if Sophia is making much progress, but most people that don't see her everyday tell me they think she is doing a lot better. So here are just a few things about Sophia and how she is doing: 

1. She can finally drink from a bottle without having it thickened. 

2. She pulls up to her knees frequently.

3. She sleeps very well -- from 7:00 pm to 7:30 am. 

4. She has gained about 5 pounds.

5. She reaches for me to pick her up -- this is a big one as far as I am concerned.

6. She has stopped grinding her teeth.

7. She turns her head when I call her name -- this is also a big one as we thought she couldn't hear. 

8. She can move her right arm and leg more but still can't really "use" her arm and hand. 

There are a few things that we are hoping will improve:

1. She still makes a lot of odd noises for a large part of the day. 

2. She will NOT let anything that has to be chewed into her mouth. She will fight you if you try. She is seeing

    a feeding specialist for this. 

3. She does like to be held but still makes very little eye contact. 

4. She still likes to rock and rock herself on the floor -- we have to intervene frequently. 

I guess as I look at the list I wrote it seems like she has blossomed in many ways in the past few months. I do think she seems happy, though sometimes it is hard to tell. She does smile and likes to be held -- sometimes she will even cry a little when she sees me -- wanting to be picked up. When I pick her up and rock her, she will sit happily for as long as I will rock her. 

She goes to PT, OT, and speech weekly and also sees a feeding specialist. She seems to enjoy doing her therapy -- but not working with the feeding specialist as Sophia hates any food that has to be chewed. She actually likes very little soft food and it is a struggle to get her to eat enough. She loves to drink a bottle though, so we give her lots of PediaSure and juice. She has been very healthy except for the very bad cold and cough she had when she first arrived. That seemed to last forever, but since then she has been extremely healthy. 

There are many unknowns right now. We have no idea how much she understands as her stroke damaged the language part of her brain -- speech and comprehension. 

Her siblings love her and play with her all day long  -- sometimes I have to ask them to give her a little break. They love to hold her and bounce her and show her all the things they are doing. Whatever her future holds, she is loved -- and that is what is really important.