I'm 6 months already!

Sorry it has taken me so long to update Malia's blog. As time goes by I am reminded of how much Malia is a part of all your lives as she is ours. She has been lifted up in prayer and brought before the Lord time and time again and we've all grown to love her! She holds a special place in our hearts as we are constantly reminded of what God can do and continues to do in her life.

.We had a busy week last week with 3 appts. to the pediatrician, the hospital for a swallow study and a developmental assessment done by pediatric rehab. The pediatrician was thrilled with her growth. At 6 months she now weights 12lbs. 5oz and is 25 1/2 inches putting her in the 5th% for weight and 25% for height. At her corrected age of 4 months she is in the 25% for weight and 75% for height. The Dr. was so pleased that she doesn't need to see Malia back for 3 months. This was a huge relief since we were previously making monthly appts. and bi-monthly weight checks. Yay for one less thing!

.The swallow study didn't go as well. We were so hopeful that Malia's vocal chords were healing allowing her to swallow and tolerate thinner liquids. That wasn't the case and we basically took a step in the other direction. The radiologist was able to see that she was silently aspirating on "nectar" thick consistancy and had to change her to "honey" thick consistancy with a slow flow nipple making it pretty much impossible for Malia to drink her full feeding. So......... back to the feeding tube, nooooooooooooooo. I was so bummed, we were so hopeful but we are also so thankful that we found out. Aspirating can lead to pneumonia, chronic coughing or long term lung damage so we are very thankful we caught it in time. It's definitely more work going back to the feeding tube but this time I am able to feed her 100mls from the bottle and 100mls from the tube at the SAME time. Since her reflux is so much better she can tolerate milk going in her mouth and her tummy at the same time. Feedings take about 15min. once I get everything set up and ready to go. I definitely had to adjust my mindset but once I did God was so good at giving me the strength, endurance and positive attitude that I needed. Amazing how He works!

We ended the week on a more positive note. Malia attended the developmental clinic where a pediatric doctor and occupational therapist evaluated her on her developmental progress, strengths and areas of concern. They were able to give me recommendations and a plan on how to improve some of her weaknesses. Overall she is developing very well. Her strengths are that she has a super invested family, she is very social and tolerated the eval nicely and she is doing well with her feedings. Areas of concern were that she showed decreased strength throughout her trunk and was only able to hold her head at a 45 degree angle instead of 90 degree angle. Their recommendation was to encourage more "tummy time" to increase overall strength which she absolutely hates so I'm not very good at encouraging it. We'll get there though. They will re-evaluate her in 4 months to hopefully see improvement and hopefully "no" areas of concern.

Us girls are all by ourselves these next 2 weeks as Harley is in Africa. Please pray for his safety as he is traveling and pray that I can be a good, patient and loving Mom in his absence. Thanks again for continuing to pray so fervently for Malia. She truly is such a special and sweet, sweet baby.