About Lu

I have wanted to write a blog for some time now, but first I had some troubling understanding the concept and then when I realized people might make comments I thought that sounded scary, but I am finally ready to begin and see how it goes. Lots of people do it so it must not be too intimidating. I was never sure what I might write about either and why would I write about something and why would anyone else want to read it anyway, I thought. But what I am going to write about is my daughter Lucy and the journey my husband, Chad, and I are currently on. At Lucy's 9 month doctors appointment I voiced concerns that she did not put weight on her legs, or push up on her hands. Her then pediatrician said sometimes it just takes some babies longer and I didn't have to run out and get her evaluated for early intervention just yet. I didn't really feel comfortable with his cavalier attitude and a few weeks later I did call to set up an evaluation for her. She didn't qualify. So three months passed and Lu made almost no progress. She was still not crawling, walking, pulling up on furniture, or even getting in and out of sitting on her own. A new pediatrician we started seeing sent us to see a pediatric neurologist who said Lucy has hypotonia which is low muscle tone. He said that her muscles seemed strong and healthy, but we had to wait and see how she progressed and we would go back to see him in 6 months! 6 months we have been sitting and waiting! In the meantime Lu has been having weekly sessions with a physical therapist, occupational therapist, and recently also a speech therapist. Lucy will now bear weight through her legs, she can hold herself in a crawling position, and she can get out of sitting on her own. She is 17 months old now and still cannot crawl or walk, does not push up onto her arms when on her belly, and basically is not yet able to transits on into any positions on her own, including simple ones like sitting up and laying back down. She now weighs 26 pounds and was 32 inches long at her 15 month check up so she's probably longer by now because she had a little growth spurt about a month ago. She's not really talking, but makes sounds of all kinds. It is hard not knowing what is causing the hypotonia and what her future may (or may not) hold. It is hard to carry her everywhere when she is so big and does not really help hold herself up. It is hard not knowing any other parents that really know how Chad and I feel and what we worry about. So I am hoping stat by writing this blog maybe I will hear from other parents and learn things fom them and maybe even be able to help them in some way too. Little bits of information here and there could go a long way to maybe feeling a little less alone in our journey of trying to understand why our sweetie has to work so hard to accomplish things that just comes naturally to most other kids.