Look What We Did Last Monday!

One of the fringe benefits of homeschooling is getting to take field trips with your kids (and only your kids!), to where you want to go, for as long as you want (or can afford), and in this case off-season (read: no crowds!).

That's exactly what we did last Monday. Took a field trip not just to the Washington Monument, but up into the Washington Monument...without standing in line at o-dark-thirty in the morning like you do at other times of the year. Matter of fact I reserved the tickets online for a wonderful 11am in the morning tour. Why? We've been studying Egypt and recently learned about obelisks...and the Washington Monument is one huge obelisk!

Anyway, after getting into the nation's capital and getting the very best free parking spot I've ever gotten, we headed over to the monument and quickly realized that the weather report's prediction of upper 40s with 5-10 mph winds was oh-so-typically-off.

Try low 30s with a bitter wind chill and something like 25mph winds.

Just look at those flags! Does that look like 5-10mph to you?

All of our exposed skin took issue with the prediction.
Thankfully, we were winter-weather prepared.
Say, "Brr!"

Do you see those 2 tiny windows at the top (above the girls' heads)? We'll be looking out of them in a minute!

So after posing for way too many pictures outside of the Monument named for our nation's first president, we got in our tour's line, passed through the metal detectors and waited for the super-speedy, 90-seconds-to-the-555ft.-top elevator.

After the quick ride, we reached the top...which, incidentally, moves with the wind leaving this woman feeling just a tad dizzy (remember the flags?).

Each face of the Washington Monument has two rectangular windows out of which you can see many if not most of the well-known sights of the city.


The girls looking at the Lincoln Memorial.


The White House as seen from the Washington Monument.

We made one other stop on our Field Trip, about which I'll post another day...

In Him,

More U-Seat Pictures

Hey! I'm missing something!

There it is! How about you help a sister out?

Fine, I'll just get it myself.

In Him,

Physical Therapy: Stretching

Okay, so these pictures have nothing to do with stretching, but they're just cute. And, as you will see...I have no pictures to share of stretching. So, these will have to do!

Onto physical therapy....in addition to strengthening Lily's core, we have been simultaneously working on stretching her hip muscles. After all, if her leg will not point toward the ground, she can't walk! So, truly, that has been the foremost goal.

We'd been working on this ourselves even before seeing the physical therapist. Thankfully, what we'd felt led to do was on the right track!

Here's how we've been getting her a good stretch:

During diaper changes we have been pulling her leg down to its fullest stretch and holding it for about a minute. I do my best to try to distract her by blowing raspberries (or zerberts as I grew up calling them) on her belly, giving her kisses, or singing her a song. Sometimes just the presence of her sisters in the room is enough to distract her long enough to get a good stretch. I wish I could say that I remember to do this every diaper change, but I don't. Seems like it's been okay to forget once and a while without it negatively impacting the results.

Secondly, we stretch her leg downward as she plays. While she sits in her U-seat, on the ball, in our laps, or as she crawls we have been pushing her leg downward (or pulling it backward in the crawling position). Most of the time she doesn't even know we are doing this so she tolerates it quite well. Now, after a couple of months of doing this, she holds her leg at a 90 degree angle from her body while sitting which is a major improvement from when we first got her! We don't have to hold her leg down anymore when she sits because her leg now stays down on its own.

Thirdly...and I honestly wonder if most powerfully...is the Ace bandage (without the metal prongs!).

Our PT believes that we need to be stretching for as long and as often as possible. Before we even got home from China, I was wondering if she would need a night brace of some sort that would hold her leg down while she slept (similar to a club foot brace), thus making that sleeping time productive...and eliminating the obstacle of trying to solicit the cooperation of a one-year-old! The orthopedist didn't like the idea of a hard brace. Our PT came up with the idea of wrapping her pelvis and upper thighs in an Ace bandage while she sleeps, so this is what we've been doing. She has occasionally wiggled out of it when I get her up, but rarely. And it does give her a good stretch.

Finally, our PT has a nifty way of measuring progress...which is what I need because it is so hard for me to discern those slight, yet progressive changes children go through (like: when did Lily's hair get so long? when did Emma get so tall? etc, etc.). It is called a Goniometer and it measures the angle of the joint. It works by placing one end along Lily's torso, the other along her leg, and the pivot at her hip joint and then stretching her leg as far as it will go. The pivot has an arrow that shows the extension measured in degrees. Our initial goal is to get to 180 degrees (a straight line for those of you who haven't been in Geometry in a while!), but eventually we would love to see it go beyond that because her leg will have to be able to extend behind her body in order for her to walk.

And the results of all of this so far? Well, when we began the maximum extension we could get was around 150 to 155 degrees in mid-November. As of the last time we measured in December? 173 degrees! And it only took us 4 weeks to get there!

I had been wondering if we won't see an improvement in her hip's extension after she has the prosthetic because it seemed to me that the weight of the prosthetic combined with wearing it for long stretches during the day would increase her stretch time, thus encouraging even more muscle lengthening in the joint. Her PT and prosthetist both think that this will be the case. As the prosthetist said before Christmas...there just isn't enough weight in that little leg to hold it down and there won't be without the prosthetic.

So, that is the stretching we've been doing in a nutshell.

One thing I feel I should mention is that our PT seems very pleased with her progress which is encouraging to me because there have been many days where I have put my head on my pillow and felt like I should have/could have done way more therapy than we did. There were naps when I forgot to put the Ace bandage on, days where I forgot the Ball, times when busyness crowded out opportunities. But, God has been gracious and has used what we did do to stretch those muscles...I picture Him working in those nights, touching her muscles and causing them to grow as we have so often petitioned Him to do. God is good...all the time.

So...let's go stretch!

The results of all this PT...headstands and independent sitting!

In Him,

Making the Mold...So She Can Break It Later!

Yesterday, Lily took the first step toward her new prosthesis (pun intended!)...measuring and molding her leg. Her appointment was at 1:30, which promised to be dicey...prime nap time; but with over an hour's worth of driving I hoped she would nap and be a happy baby for her appointment. NOT!

She was happy...until she discovered that we hadn't driven that far to simply play "Give Mommy Kisses on the Exam Table."

Once the measuring began, so did the angry tears. It's not that anything was painful. Lily simply doesn't like to be held still or let strangers touch her. It is a good thing, in my thinking, that she doesn't just want anyone touching her...good attachment signs. The volume level at which she voiced her displeasure, however...let's just say I'm glad we didn't video it!

In order to get the plaster mold (same as making a cast), Lily needed to be in her birthday suit. She was thrilled about this, too. I had the honors of holding her still, so I was covered in several layers of sheets to protect my clothing from plaster and anything else that a diaper might contain.

After measuring Lily's leg, undressing her and covering me up, the prosthetist put a protective sock over Lily's leg and began wrapping her leg in plaster. Poor Lily! We have not heard her cry like that since we were in China giving her a sponge bath (had to hold her down for that, too!). It's times like that when I just keep telling Lily: You may not like this now, but one day you will walk and run and climb and bike and swing and hop and dance and ride a scooter, and the list goes on...all because we endured this now. I can't wait to see it!

Next, we let it harden for a few minutes and then we were done. Off slid the little cast and we cleaned and dressed our sweet, sobbing little girl.

All done...and somewhat recovered from the ordeal.

The Mold!

We return next Friday to try on the socket that will be made from the little mold above. The socket is the part of the prosthesis that goes over the leg. If the fit is good, they will build the rest of the leg and she will be standing on it at the appointment after that! Amazing!

In Him,

Physical Therapy: The Ball

The second Physical Therapy piece of equipment our therapist brought was the Ball. More than likely you've seen them as they are very popular in the exercise world these days for Core conditioning (not apple cores...your abdominals and back muscles...the core of your body!).

We quickly discovered that the Ball is also very popular with older sisters who seem to think it should be added to the nearest amusement park or Chuck E. Cheese. But why do that when you can just ride your sister's every time Mom leaves the room?

Once we got the ground rules set with the older girls, Lily got to work. At first we just practiced sitting on top of the ball trying to hold a center of balance.

She quickly decided she liked laying on her belly on it and rolling forward and backward to pick up toys.


The PT said this was actually a good idea and then tweaked my technique to make it more effective for her back, glutes (rear end), and obliques (ab muscles that run along your side) and probably several other muscles that I am forgetting right now! She suggested that we hold toys out in front of her at the maximum extent of her reach so that she would to lift up and use all the aforementioned muscle groups while reaching. We do this for as long as she's having fun changing the location of the toy within a semicircle area in front of her and to her side. Our wonderfully sweet and creative PT keeps reminding me of just how many muscle groups are utilized not only in sitting upright, but also in standing and walking...which is our quickly approaching goal! We need to get those muscles toned and ready!

Another exercise we have been doing is a little trickier (for both Lily & me!). It's probably easier to explain with the pictures! First, we lay Lily on her back on the ball. Then I encourage her to roll to her side by maneuvering the ball to one side.

To compensate for the feeling of falling off, she turns her body toward the center of the ball.

Next, I roll the Ball slightly away from me to encourage her to pull herself up to sitting.

Then...the reward for her hard work! Bouncing up and down on the Ball!

All done and we had fun!

In Him,

Physical Therapy: the U Seat

God never ceases to amaze me with what He already knows and how little I do and how He loves to surprise me with His knowledge.

Lily's physical therapy is one of those things.

You see what I didn't know back when we were matched to her was 1) that she would need physical therapy (although I began to understand that soon afterward) and 2) that God would provide for free physical therapy in our home once she got home. God once again used His command to us (Malachi 3:10) to bless us. As we filled out the paperwork for her PT, we had to supply our tax return. Because of our charitable giving and our family size, we discovered that our income was put in a bracket that qualified for free-to-us therapy for as long as we use them or until Lily turns 3! Go God!

Anyway, one of the first pieces of apparatus our PT brought us was the U-seat. For Lily, it was love at first use. Because of Lily's underdeveloped pelvis (on the left side), she has trouble balancing while sitting. She has had to do what we have dubbed the "tripod sit" to keep from tipping over...2 legs and one arm for support. With the U-seat, Lily can sit supported with both hands free. She loves it! Now she can play with both hands while in a seated position and develop her core strength at the same time!

Over the weeks that we have had the U-seat, Lily has gotten quite comfortable with it and will crawl into the seat and sit down independently. She will also crawl over it, sit on top of it, hang over it backwards, flip it upside-down and crawl into it...and the latest feat? Push it over to the couch, climb on top and try to get onto the couch. Alas, she is still too short to make it!

The improvement in Lily's sitting between the U-Seat and another fun PT apparatus (I'll share that one tomorrow) is immense. Last week we caught her several times sitting straight up and down for several seconds with no hand support and no U-seat! And, then a few days ago (as I blogged on New Year's Eve) she started sitting independently for long stretches! Yippee!

Let's hear it for the U-seat!

U-seat or baby recliner? You decide!

In Him,

Lily's Leg

After having been with Lily for 4 months now, we have found that not everyone realizes/notices that Lily's lower left leg is...well, not there. Obviously, some do...but not all. Her referral file stated that she had a "Congenital Missing Lower Left Leg" meaning she was born without it.

Many questions surrounded her leg before we came home with her and some still do. Would she be able to have a prosthesis? Does she have a knee joint? Did she have range of motion in her left hip? What we do now know is that 1) we don't know why she was born without part of her leg and may never know 2) an x-ray revealed that the left side of her pelvis is underdeveloped...again for reasons unknown 3) due to lack of use & weight to hold the left leg down, she developed a muscle contracture around her left hip (mama's terms: tight muscles that don't have a full range of motion) 4) with physical therapy to stretch her muscles she should be able to have a prosthesis 5) nothing stops this girl!

The day before we got her our guide called us to say she had spoken with the orphanage and they wanted to let us know that Lily was 'very active.' We wondered what exactly they meant by that...could something have been lost in translation? All we had to do when we were in China was read some of the signs the Chinese had written in English to see that word choices weren't always on target. So...very active?

Let's just say nothing was lost in translation. This child never really stops moving when she's awake! I nicknamed her the Tornado Baby shortly after she joined us because she was constantly twisting and turning in my arms when I would hold her. The baby carrier was the only way to carry her for many, many weeks! And once we put her down? She was off! This kid can crawl and climb (she was up 5 stairs before we caught her the other day!) and pull and lift! She is constant motion.

This week we return to her prosthetist where they will measure her leg and make a mold of it for her first prosthetic leg! At our last appointment we were told to expect it to slow her down and that she probably won't like that. I had two reactions to that. 1) That could be good...make it easier to keep up with her! 2) Yeah, right! Lily is one determined little girl and I'll betcha she's up and running before we know it. Time will tell...

Since we are getting close to beginning the prosthetic process, I thought I'd do a series of posts on the physical therapy Lily has been doing so that we would have a record of it for us/her. But also, in case someone else is considering adopting a child with a leg limb difference. Maybe something in our experience could be helpful or provide a glimpse into daily life with a prosthetic. I know I would read someone else's account somewhat obsessively if I could find it! But be forewarned...we are new to all of this and are learning as we go; we have no medical background at all; and our experiences, emotions, and mental processing may be different than that of others or you. So be nice! And understanding that we are learning as we go...and I'll try to blog the journey!

In Him,