clarification

ok i am going to clarify some lose ends i may have left in the last post...

1. Kinsley has not been formally diagnosed with anything, the doctor simply said it is possibly a mild case of cp from listening to what i was telling him. it could be a simple delay or something else also but since it seems to be just the one side that lead him towards cp.

2. kinsley is able to use her arm. it is not what you think of when you hear cp. she has full movement and plenty of ability. however she is behind on development. she is catching up but still uses the right hand more fluidly. her left thumb seems to fall under alot these days, and she only waves with her right hand and fingers. it is not that she is not mastering skills it is that she is late on them and behind the right side. either way a delay is usually best dealt with early rather then waiting to see how behind her left arm will get.

3. cp is caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain. this could have happened in the womb, during labor, or birth. it is not due to my long labor, her vital signs were good all along and no red flags came up to indicate anything. it could have happened at any time during the pregnancy.

4. she will be fine. i am not freaking out and neither is brandon so you shouldn't be either. for the most part when you see her you will think i am crazy, which i am not..but a few hours or days will not show the extent of the delay. she gets more caught up the older she gets so right now it is hard to tell because she hit a milestone at 9 months. she is now doing the things with the left hand and arm that she has done for 3 months with the right. so the delay will show its self more as she gets closer to 1 yr when more milestones will probably be met by the right before the left. if you are not with her everyday you will probably never notice a thing, but brandon and i along with some friends have noticed a few things and they have been there since the beginning.

5. lastly thank you to those who have sent messages already of support. we really are ok with this, there are much rougher roads to take and this is a minor thing in the realm of her life.

9 months!!...concerns and answers

kinsley is 9 months old today...such a milestone, she was is my belly as long as she has been out now!!!!!! i can't get over how much she is growing and learning and not to mention the love. it is still amazing to me. she is starting to push up with her arms and scoot backwards. she can spin around on her belly and get just about anywhere she wants till she gets stuck somewhere!!!! she loves her food...can't get enough. the list is too long to type out but so far she likes everything but kiwi! she is a great sleeper and her naps are getting better. overall she is doing very well!

we had our doctors apt today and things went ok. she is 16lbs 3 oz (10%) and 28.5 inches (75%) so still tall and skinny. the doc is not worried about her weight she is not too skinny it is just in her genes that way! they tested her iron 34% which they tell me is good!

so we went into this apt with many concerns. i have only spoke to a few people about this because i wasn't sure if my special needs back ground was making me read more into things or if what i was thinking was really there. i also didn't feel like having anyone dismiss my concerns or say something stupid. i was not surprised today and neither was brandon...i had him prepared. so now that i have scared you all...

kinsley has only been rolling to one side (until last week), her roll was very awkward also with her left arm smashed behind her...it looked painful (brandon has never liked this). her left arm is significantly behind in development then her right, she wasn't pushing up on it till last week and she usually has her hand folded under so she is on her wrist. (good that she has started these things now but not normal that she is 9 months and starting these things) also many of you may have noticed that her left eye has always been less open then her right. her left hand is also behind, she is just beginning to rack her food with accuracy where as she has a great pincer grasp(thumb and pointer finger) with the right hand. so all of this combined had me very concerned. i decided before the doc apt that i would be calling help me grow regardless to have her looked at just to ease my mind.

so we spoke with the doctor and he seems to think that she is a MILD case of cerebral palsy on her left side. nothing major (may never even need to go for a formal diagnosis), if you are not around her all the time you would probably never notice. however i want to see what we can do now to keep her left side from falling further behind. he assured us that she will hit her milestones for crawling and walking but they may be on the late end. and that she will be a normal kid she just may have an awkward gait to her walk. or she could get stronger and it may become non existent. so who knows!

looking back i see many other signs now. her eye for one has always been like that, and when she started sitting up she always fell to the left. also breast feeding!!!!!!! if her muscle control was different on each side that that could explain her latch issues, not something you would think of though.

no worries folks, we are fine with this and not overly concerned. she will be like any other kid and having taught and personally knowing so many kids with special needs this is a minor bump in our road. that is not to say we are not taking it seriously and we want to figure it out and get her any help she may need. i will post when we learn more from help me grow.