Status Update

Yesterday marked 2 months in the hospital for Alli.  Unbelievable.  Today is the first time in a long time that I have spent an afternoon alone with Alli.  Jason had some meetings at work, so he gets to take some time away from the hospital, which is a good thing.  It just so happens that today has been a more challenging day for her.  They are watching her like a hawk.  She is back on the full face bi pap mask today.  We are hoping to avoid having to reintubate her.  Outside of that, Alli has been making great progress with her bedside PT and OT.  She obviously isn't able to go to rehab until her oxygen is stable, but we are trying to get her as prepared as possible while she is still here in ICU.  Since starting with the PT and OT she has started to bring her hands back to midline, she is rubbing her eyes and trying to put her hands in her mouth, she is trying to roll on her side, and she is slowly building core strength and working on head control.  So, we are hopeful that the more we accomplish at the bedside here that maybe we can knock off some of the early milestones from inpatient rehab.  She visited with the speech therapist yesterday and they worked on some oral motor skills to give her some positive stimulation around her mouth.

Joshua celebrated his 6 week birthday on Friday.  He continues to do well.  He is bringing his hands to his mouth and no longer appreciates the tight swaddle.  He likes to move his arms a good bit and keep them up by his face while he is sleeping.  His sleeping has been a little off and on, but I attribute that to a little growth spurt.  

Samantha continues to keep us on our toes.  Yesterday she informed me that she was the queen of the household and that Meggie (her nanny) is the king.  We'll let her believe that for a little while, although Jason informed her that he was the king of everything at dinner last night.  She seemed ok with that.  She also informed me that she lives on the Planic Earth.  There must have been some discussion at school or at home regarding Earth day :)  She has become much more expressive about her feelings.  She tells me when she misses Alli and Jason and we talk about that for a little while.  Sunday night she came downstairs after I had put her to bed and told me she didn't like being upstairs alone, so Josh and I went upstairs and now I try to make sure I am upstairs more at night.  She also loves to sing showtunes.  We have reduced her tv time and increased her pandora radio time.  So, now I catch her singing Let's Go Fly a Kite and Do-Re-Mi around the house.  It is also a stitch to listen to her sing Supercalafragilisticexpealidocious around the house.  

So, for now, please continue to keep Alli in your prayers.  As of this afternoon she is starting to show some improvement and it would be great if we could avoid reintubating her.