Happy 9 months to Olivia Hope! This little rockstar has enjoyed her second month home with her family. Olivia is doing better at almost-rolling, and is no longer bothered with tummy time. She’s been practicing sitting with the help of her physical therapist through Early Intervention. She’s been vocalizing more, which is wonderful to hear. Her little voice is just the cutest! She can almost reach her toes and is discovering how much her legs bend.
Olivia has two teeth now, and really loves chewing on everything. We have our eyes out to see if there are any more on the way. Olivia is still being fed via G-tube, but we have started trying to give her a pacifier again to see if she’s interested in sucking on it. That could lead to us giving her small amounts of breastmilk orally, letting her practice swallowing. Eventually, once she can manage that, she will have a swallow study. We are very far away from that particular test, though.
Olivia loves sitting up and trying to pet Anya when she walks by. Anya loves Olivia, and often will sit between her and a guest as if she’s trying to protect the baby – it’s adorable.
Becky is officially one of Livie’s full-time caregivers, returning her equipment to work on Monday. It was hard to say goodbye to architecture, but she believes it will be a temporary leave and hopes to come back to the field someday. In the meantime, Olivia is going to get the best care and the most love possible!
Olivia’s Medical News:
- Her weight is now 6.10 kg, or 13 lbs 7oz!
- She is 59 cm long, or 23.2 inches
- Olivia has seen the gastroenterologist, pulmonologist, audiologist, dermatologist, and otorhinolaryngologist this month.
- Her biggest hurdle is still vomiting – we have tried several methods to help minimize the vomiting, and we did have a few good days this month, but it’s typical for Olivia to throw up about three times a day
- This is impacting her weight gain, which was stagnant for a bit
- Olivia spends three nights a week off the vent, and is doing well with it!
- She needs only ⅛ liter oxygen per minute, which is much lower than when she came home on ½ liter!
- Every six months, Olivia will need to have a small procedure where she is put under anesthesia while her trach is temporarily removed and her trachea is scoped. This is likely to happen next month.
- Olivia still has mild hearing loss, and we have started the discussion as to whether or not she will need tubes placed at the same time that her trachea is being scoped.
(This is the only caption I didn’t write -Dan)
