A lot has happened with Whitney since my last post. Whitney had her cleft palate repair last month and did great. She stayed at Cook Children's 2 nights to make sure she was recovering well before we were released. Shortly after the surgery she developed a high fever and also needed some extra oxygen, but quickly recovered like a little champ. Daddy, Gigi, Aunt Debi and I were there for the surgery and all went well. They also probed her tear ducts because her eyes were always mattering/watering and we hoped that would help. However, I now believe that she just has bad allergies because I recently started her on Zyrtec after her eyes continued to drain and she seems to be doing much better taking the allergy medication.
Her cleft repair caused her to have some issues with eating at first. We used the zip-n-squeeze bottles and she didn't mind them at all. In fact, we thought that she did better with them than her regular Pigeon bottles. I wish we'd started using them sooner. She also had to wear arm splints called 'No-Nos' for 3 weeks after the surgery to keep her from putting her hands in her mouth. This made sleeping difficult because she relies on her thumb to comfort her and sleep at night. However, after about 2 weeks, she was doing fine and is now sleeping through the night again. As for feeding, we are just now starting on baby foods. Until now we were unable to feed her baby food because the food would come up immediately through her nose due to the cleft. Since we waited so long to start food, she is having a hard time adjusting and we are hoping the Speech Therapist who will begin coming this month will help us teach her to eat. She is doing just fine with her formula and is now exclusively taking a Nuby sippy cup. She loves it! It's sort of hard for me to get rid of all the baby bottles in the house. It's been almost 9 years since I put them away!
Whitney also got her standing frame last week. At first, she wasn't crazy about it, but now she will stay in it for about 20-30 minutes just playing which is great. (see pics above). She is also grabbing for toys and throwing them! This is a huge step for her because it took a long time for her to be able to reach for things. Whitney is about equivilant to a 4 month old baby developmentally. She can sit with minimal assistance for about 30 seconds at a time. She is actually better at standing with assistance than sitting. She is rolling ALL over the place! This is her preferred method of transport :) Whitney also has favorite toys (the see-through blocks with surpises inside) and 2 favorite songs. She loves it when we sing "Jesus Loves Me" and "You are My Sunshine!" These two songs make her smile the most and gasp in excitement. She is saying "Mama" and tries to wave Bye-Bye. We are working on Pat-A-Cake, but she gets her hands together in front and starts to quiver. We aren't sure why, but think it's probably just a neurological thing that will eventually fade away since we were reassured she isn't having seizures.
Whitney's 1st birthday is coming up on May 29 and we are so happy with all that she's accomplished in her short little life thus far. She has come so far and is improving each day. We feel like the most blessed, lucky parents on Earth to have such a little fighter. She has continued to amaze us each and every day and we are so anxious to see what the next year holds.
