Physical Therapy Fun

Elaina has had a pretty uneventful weekend. The doctors are still fine tuning her diuretics and balancing her electrolytes, so she's had to have blood draws and a couple of chest x-rays, but that was the main excitement this weekend. I was able to spend the night with her on Saturday and she had a great night. We spent most of Sunday catching up on snuggles. The nurses joked with me that I need to stay every night because the only time she does well on her c-pap is when I'm in the room! Ha!! I wish I was able to stay all the time, but Ben needs to have me home to get him off to school. Oh well, it's good to feel needed anyway!

Right after I got to the hospital today our new physical therapist came in to work with Elaina. I was holding Elaina, but she was awake, so we decided to "play". Elaina seemed to enjoy it and she is doing really well!!

The physical therapist brought in a mat for her to use on the floor.

She's able to hold her back straight without too much help. (If she let go, Elaina would fall, but she's getting pretty good at balancing.)

Elaina had fun playing with the toys. She looked up at me when I called her name!
Here's a short video of her following one of the toys. This was near the end, so she's a little bit worn out, but it's still cute.

The physical therapist told me that she was very impressed with how well Elaina is doing. She said that she's developmentally delayed, but mostly due to the amount of time that she's spent in the hospital. She seems to be catching on quickly, but is still very weak. She will try to reach and grab for toys, but doesn't have much strength to hold on to things. The PT also put her on her side to encourage her to roll over. Elaina was able to balance herself on her side, and would roll onto her back when she was following the movement of a toy. Rolling to her stomach is still far into the future, but she was able to bring her arm from behind her back to her front. She should improve over time, she is just starting on this part of her recovery. I know it probably sounds silly to be excited over such little things, but I just can't help myself.

Elaina also got a new swing today! It was donated to the hospital, and since it's made out of fabric, they don't allow it to be used by multiple patients (to help prevent spreading germs) so Elaina gets to keep it! She absolutely loved it and fell asleep shortly after getting in. Of course I'm sure it helped that she had just used up all her energy in physical therapy!

It's a little blurry because the swing was moving, but she was loving the music and watching the little toys moving above her head!

On a personal note, I broke a tooth today! I'm not really even sure how it broke. I felt something in my cheek, and it was a piece of one of my back molars! Holy cow! Anyway, I've got a dentist appointment tomorrow, so I won't be making it to the hospital. There just aren't enough hours in the day for everything. The nurses assured me that they would hold and rock my sweet girl since I won't be able to be there. I hate going to the dentist.... :)