Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Physical Therapy

Hello all. Gaines had a PT appointment Monday so I thought I'd update you on that and ask for a few specific prayers. Oh, and, PS...a huge thank you to all of you out there that still pray for our family and little Gaines. He is doing great and we are managing to stay fairly sane but there are days when we need lots of prayers...ok, maybe I'm the only one that needs them. You know I'm working on my patience (and doing fairly well if I do say so myself) but there are still days when I get overwhelmed...trying to be all things to all people. My guess is that a lot of you have days like that, I just had one today. When did life get so hectic?

Anyway...enough of that...back to Gaines. His therapist thought that he had a really good appointment. She loves how much time he's spending on his belly and was impressed with his arm strength. She got some new exercises to be working on. One that puts him in a crawling position (he does not love it) and one is just standing at the couch with flat feet and un-bent legs (he didn't seem to love that either this afternoon). When she tried it with him he wanted to be on his toes with bent knees. With some help he'd straighten out with out really fighting her, but that was still his go to position. We want to correct that.

I asked her how she thought his hamstrings were doing and she thought they were the best they've ever been. A good answer but I wanted specifics. I asked what she thought they were on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best. She said probably a 7-8. Good, but not what she wanted yet. She said he probably started as a 5. That means he has definitely made progress but is not quite there yet. So, one of my specific prayer requests is for Gaines to be a good solid 9 by his next appointment. I know that with our prayers, God can make him a 10 (and he will eventually) but I'm trying not to be greedy. I just want a 9 for now. I'm really trying to do everything I can to get him there. I've increased his stretching and massage and using heat to warm his muscles when stretching. Gaines is not quite so crazy about my new determination but he'll thank me one day. I'll keep you updated.

My other prayer request these next two weeks is for Gaines to finally master this sitting up business. He is so close but according to his therapist, his back muscles are still a little weak. He sits up, he just doesn't sit up as straight as we'd like. Please keep that in your prayers as well. As I see it, Gaines has 4 big milestones left before I can breath a sigh of relief (if that's even a reality with children!)...sitting, crawling, walking and talking. I'd love to get that list down to 3 very soon. He has a big exercise ball that we use to strengthen his core. It's pretty tough to use but I'm starting to get the hang of it. Please pray that my determination continues. I love hearing from all of you out there have have dealt with these same frustrations. They remind me that I'm not alone in having to do this stuff. Some days I just want to crash on the couch but I know that Gaines needs me to do these exercises with him. Hearing your success stories or tips helps keep my head where it should be.

I really hope you all don't mind hearing my inner thoughts...I don't hold much back on here. I know I come across as complaining and probably ungrateful sometimes...I promise I'm not, I just try to be honest. Being a mom is hard sometimes!

Back to my boys...In other Gaines related news, he said Dada today. Not just Da...a full Dada. His poor Mama will probably have to wait a while to hear her name. I swear it took Reed forever to say "Mama".

Also, I haven't mentioned it in a while but Reed is pretty much potty trained. He only wears diapers at night. Every so often...like less than once a week, he'll have an accident but he has really done great with potty training. Honestly I feel like it's even less than that. Sorry...just had to brag on my big boy for a minute.

This is kind of funny...Beau just put Reed to bed and they said his prayers. They went through the list of thank you for mama, daddy, Gaines, Jack...Amen. Then Reed said, "What about my horse?" (his rocking horse that was the ONLY thing he told us Santa was going to bring him but that he never plays with), so Beau said, "And thank you for Reed's horse".
Reed: "What about my bike?"
Beau: "And thank you for Reed's bike."
Reed: "What about my scooter?"
Beau: "And thank you for Reed's scooter".

Then Reed got a big smile on his face and rolled over to go to sleep. His priorities might be a little skewed but at least he's thankful for his "bessings".

I'm out for now. I've got a boy out of bed that needs a talking to.

Thanks for keeping up with us. I mean it.

Pictures below if you haven't checked in in a few days.

Love to all,

Brittany

3 comments:

Sarah said...

Yay for the steady improvements with PT for Gaines! How awesome to see your hard work paying off. Praying for even more improvement for your sweet little guy.

And great job with the potty-training too -- Alexandru is NOWHERE near being ready. :)

Grammy Jane said...

Your two boys are just precious. I'll pray for improvement for Gaines. I'm so impressed with Reed's potty training. Hang in there!

Colleen said...

I'm just someone who reads your blog and really enjoys it (actually, I went to Auburn with Greg Ellis!), but I wanted to tell you that my daughter was born with hip dysplasia - not nearly as bad as what Gaines has gone through, but she did require a year of physical therapy, (two times a week) to get her up to speed. She's 2 and a half now, and running all over the place. You would have no idea that she ever had a dislocated hip! But I just wanted to tell you that PT DOES help, and even though it sometimes seems like it will never happen, he WILL sit up, crawl, walk and talk! Natalie's milestones were: sitting up 9 months; crawling: 13 months; and walking: 17 months. So it WILL happen!!!! Keep the faith, you're doing a great job!

Colleen Bailey (http://baileyplanet.blogspot.com)