Homecoming!

The nurses and doctors in the NICU at Reston Hospital have been so amazing...maybe a little too amazing! Hudson has been perfectly content to live in the NICU. However, after his circumcision Monday, he decided he had had enough of hospital life! It was like a light bulb was turned on and he all of the sudden had the will to eat! Up until then, he had been very lazy with his feeds, taking over 40 minutes to finish an ounce and a half of milk. Friday of last week his doctor was telling me they would most likely discharge him Monday (5/16) as long as he was eating well. He had been nursing great for me and even taking a bottle really well from me when I tried. I had every hope that he would come home Monday. I can't tell you how discouraged I was to hear that he was struggling to eat well through the weekend! I skipped church to go be with him Sunday morning and he nursed really well for me. They only let me nurse him twice in a 24 hour period because he needs more calories in his food, the rest of his feeds he gets breast milk in a bottle with calorie fortifier. When I got to the hospital Monday morning his nurse told me he had eaten very poorly for her and for the night nurse. She said she didn't think it would be a good idea to take him home only to have problems feeding him. I couldn't have agreed more but I was confident I could get him to eat for me. I asked her if she thought he'd be able to go home in the next couple of days and she said she thought it'd be three days at least! I know you all are thinking; what's a few more days but I was just trying frantically to hold myself together at this point!! I quickly made arrangements for someone to have the other 3 kids for the rest of the day and settled in, determined to get him to eat well for me. In the middle of all this of course was his circumcision. The doctor talked over the possibility of Hudson doing worse after a traumatic afternoon and having to be put back on the feeding tube if he was too exhausted to eat was a real possibility which would automatically mean 3 more days in the hospital at the very least! Well, you already know he did wonderful, praise God!! He ate like a champ for me the next two feeds and did well through the night! His doctor and nurses were visibly surprised at his progress in such a short time...the power of prayer for sure!

To say I am happy to have him home and my family all in one place is an understatement! This has been so physically and emotionally exhausting...I can't even begin to tell you! Last Friday I ended up spending the whole afternoon in the ER because I started having numbness and tingling in my left arm and hand. I didn't think much of it, it felt kind of like my arm had fallen asleep. Ned's twin brother's wife Becca (we call her Drew's Becca) was visiting from Texas and had come with me to the NICU to see Hudson. I mentioned to her casually that my arm had fallen asleep...odd since I wasn't really resting on it. After we had finished visiting with Hudson we went to grab lunch. We were sitting waiting for our food when I told her my arm was still tingling...it had been well over an hour since the feeling started. Just after I told her this I started having chest pains. We both thought it'd be a good idea to run on over to the ER. :/

After going though a bunch of tests including a blood test that came back abnormal and pointed to possible blood clot (a real scare in light of my history and blood disorder) they ordered a CAT scan which came back clear...praise God and I was sent home with follow up order to make an appointment with a neurologist about the numbness. All that to say...it's been stressful! :) I'm glad to have my littlest son home whole and healthy!! In just the day and a half he's been home I already feel better rested!

A couple quick updates:

Brain Bleed: They did another head ultrasound on his brain Friday and it came back looking really good! Bleeding has started to dissipate.

Temp: They were concerned when we left yesterday about his body temperature. He is borderline for being able to keep his body temp up since he is still pretty small. We keep him bundled really good so he doesn't have to burn much needed calories on keeping himself warm.

Blood Count: As is very common in preemies, Hudson's blood count has been low since he was born. They never had to do a transfusion like they did with Charlotte but they have been monitoring it closely since birth. It is still low but has improved...our pediatrician will continue to monitor his levels every two weeks until it is normal.

First Night Home: He did wonderful!! Fed him at 10pm, had to wake him up at 3am to feed him and again at 6:30am! He's been eating great since being home and had even gained an ounce overnight!!

James can't get enough!

Charlotte and Nathaniel loving on their new little brother!

Thank you all for keeping up with this little guy and our family!!

Need Caffeine!!

You and me both baby boy!! Well, it looks like Hudson will not be weaned off caffeine this weekend like we hoped. I guess our little man is more dependent on caffeine than I am right now (which is saying a lot)! His doctor wants to see him go longer without having any spells before they'll take him off. Once they do take him off they will want to monitor him in the hospital for a minimum of 7 days.

I know I didn't mention this in my last post but they did a head ultrasound on Hudson a couple weeks ago (standard for all preemie babies) and it showed he had some bleeding on his brain. This completely threw me for a loop since Charlotte was so much smaller and the risk of this for her was so much greater but she never had a brain bleed. The way they measure them is from zero (being no bleeding) to a four (being massive bleed and most likely brain damage). Hudson's bleed was a level 2 on both sides of his brain. We are praying that the blood would absorb itself and there would be no fluid build up or swelling. They did another ultrasound last Friday to make sure it hadn't gotten worse and check to see if it had started to dissipate and it looked the same as the first...still a level 2 but no new bleeding and no fluid build up or swelling. The doctors have assured us that as long as the ble

ed stays at a level 2 it should not be a problem for him. We know that there is no new bleeding and they will do another ultrasound just to follow up next Friday.

I was only able to be with him for an hour yesterday but it was during one of his feedings and he took a whole bottle for me!! His nurse told me he had taken most of a bottle for her earlier that day and he took a bottle for the night nurse...baby steps!! :)

Thank you all again for all your encouragement and prayers! Looking forward to spending the afternoon with him today and will better keep you all posted on his progress!

Overdue Update

Daddy and Hudson

I've been meaning to update this blog for a few days but haven't had the time or energy until now. Thank you all for your words of encouragement and prayers! We are so amazed at how well Hudson is doing. It's hard not to be really positive after everything we went through with Charlotte...it's really incredible what just six more weeks of growing in the womb will do for a baby. I've realized that, because he looks so much better than Charlotte did, and because he is making such huge progress everyday, we haven't really asked for specific prayer requests and there are still so many things we need prayer for!

So many people have asked about time frame for him coming home and it's really hard to know that right now. The soonest he could possibly come home would be the 14th since he will be 35 weeks but he would have to accomplish so much before then and I think that would be asking a lot of such a little guy. He is still in a heated incubator since he does not have enough fat on him to keep his body temp up on his own. When the doctor took him off the ventilator a couple weeks ago they put him on a very high dose of caffeine to help him with his breathing and with the apnea and bradycardia spells (below is a link with info on bradycardia).

http://preemies.about.com/od/preemiehealthproblems/f/AsandBs.htm

Even on the caffeine, Hudson is still having a couple spells a day...he will need to go 3-4 days without any spells before they will discharge him and he will also need to be weaned completely off of the caffeine. Another huge step will be for him to start taking all his feeds by mouth. They just introduced the bottle a couple days ago and he's taking at least one of his feeds by mouth a day. Yesterday I tried nursing him but he wasn't interested. I was able to get him to take almost one of his feeds by bottle (breast milk) for me. He is still so small and it is so much work for him to stay awake for a feeding and he has to be able to take all 8 feeds in the day by mouth before he can come home.

On a positive note, he is gaining weight every day now and has surpassed his birth weight of 3lb 7oz! He is now a whopping 3lb 13oz!! They are adding calories to his feeds putting him on a 24 calorie diet (breast milk is 20 cal.) and it has really helped with the weight gain!

Thank you all for praying for my recovery!! I'm am doing well, just really low on energy and sleep. Ned is still having to travel some for work and juggling the three kids at home and getting to the hospital to see Hudson, all while pumping every three hours and once in the middle of the night is exhausting!

Somehow through all of this God is sustaining our family and giving us an extra measure of grace to get us through this tough time. We are so incredibly blessed by all the help from family and friends! I cannot imagine having to do all this without all of you! Thank you for the rides you given me to the hospital, the meals, the words of encouragement, your prayers, the help with the kids, we are truly grateful.

29 Weeks!

Praising the Lord for bringing us through 29 weeks of pregnancy! Praying for 8 more!!



The kids holding the "countdown to Hudson" chain above.


I feel as huge as I look.

The Countdown

For me, waiting is always the hardest part about being pregnant especially when having a very active baby squirming around inside of me starts to get pretty uncomfortable! However, after Charlotte came four months early, and after losing a baby (around 12 weeks last spring) waiting is something I pray this baby does every day!
When Ned and I first discovered we were expecting we were overjoyed. After the initial excitement over this new life growing inside of me, fear slowly started to take the place of joy. I started thinking, what if I lose this baby, or what if something happened when I was pregnant with Charlotte that makes it impossible for me to carry a baby full term, I began to try not to form an attachment to the new baby. I told Ned I didn’t want to tell the boys yet because I feared we would have to tell them once again how their baby brother or sister went to be with Jesus. I didn’t want to go to the doctor only to see the baby and heartbeat and have it “taken away” all too soon. Ned and I decided that it would be best for us emotionally if I waited till I was 12 weeks along before I went to the doctor. Well, needless to say God got a hold of me about 8 weeks into the pregnancy. One of the great blessings of being raised in a Christian home and being taught scripture at a young age is that, even when you’re not actually reading the Word, God can still use scripture that you've learned through the years to convict and encourage. My absolute favorite passage of scripture ever since I was a young girl has always been Psalm 139. I could have never known then how God was going to continually use this short passage of truth to strengthen and encourage me throughout my life! I won’t take the time to write out the whole chapter here but if you have a couple minutes, pick up your bible and read it…I promise you will be encouraged even if you’ve heard it a thousand times! It wasn’t that I knew after dwelling on the scripture that God was going to deliver to us a healthy whole baby but more that I was at peace knowing He would be there for me whatever happened just as He was when we welcomed Charlotte 4 months early and when we said goodbye to baby Ryun last spring. “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” After spending some time in prayer and confessing my fears I went to Ned and told him I really wanted to go to the doctor and see the baby. Ned went with me to that first doctor’s appointment at 9 weeks gestation and we both had tears in our eyes watching our teeny tiny baby move around and seeing and hearing that precious heartbeat for the first time.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body."

Turns out it was really good I went to the doctor before 12 weeks because, after doing some tests, they found I have a blood disorder that was probably the cause of the miscarriage and what caused the blood clots with Charlotte. They had me go on blood thinners right away. For the first 20 weeks of pregnancy I was giving myself injections twice a day, since 20 weeks they had me cut back to once a day which I will continue up until 6 weeks after Hudson's birth. We are ALL completely head over heels for this sweet baby boy and anxiously wait his arrival! It's been hard trying to explain to the boys how long they'll have to wait before they can meet their brother face to face so a few weeks ago they helped me make a "countdown to Hudson" chain. Each day that goes by they take turns tearing of a link to the chain. Because of the way they had to deliver Charlotte, I will have to have another c-section with Hudson. We already have a day to look forward to...May 26!





Okay, this post has gotten away from me...I guess that's what I get for trying to catch up on 29 weeks of pregnancy in one blog post! I'm not making any promises but I will try to be better at updating this...especially for my sisters in Okinawa! Love you two and all my sweet nieces and nephews! More pics to come...

Happy Birthday Charlotte!

In the very early morning of November 1st I woke up to find myself lying in a puddle of blood on the bed. My first thought was that I must be losing the baby at just a little over 23 weeks gestation there was no way I could be bleeding this much and not be miscarrying. Panicked, I woke Ned up and had him call my parents to come watch the boys while I called my doctor. The bleeding had stopped so we made our way to Reston Hospital praying all the way that what we expected would not be the case. My doctor was on vacation and Dr Alfreda Jones was on call for him. By the time we got to the hospital everything seemed completely normal. They did a couple tests on me to see if my water had broken and immediately hooked me up to monitors for the baby. Charlotte seemed to be doing great...her heart rate and respiratory rate were completely normal but I was having very small contractions. They took me downstairs for an ultrasound which determined my water had not broken but they saw something of concern on my uterus. After two more ultrasounds they told me what they saw on the ultrasound were blood clots on my uterus; this is what had caused the sudden bleeding. I had what they call a placenta abruption (where the placenta tears away from the uterine lining) and in some cases this heals on it's own but because of the huge concern they had for me with the large blood clots they wanted to keep me at the hospital on strict bed rest and monitoring. Later that afternoon after a ultrasound done by a high risk doctor they saw that my water would most likely rupture in the next 24 to 48 hours and talked to us about our "options." If we decided to work to save our little girl I would have to be taken to Fairfax Hospital since Reston Hospital is not prepared to care for a baby under 26 weeks. Of course we wanted to do everything we could to save little Charlotte and as soon as we caught on to what this doctor was asking, we quickly told him we wanted to talk to our doctor and take the next steps to ensure that Lottie was taken care of.

Off we went by ambulance to Fairfax Hospital and up to the high risk floor I went to remain on bed rest until Charlotte was born. After I was settled in I sent Ned home to be with the boys thinking it could be days or weeks before I actually had her. Not more than two hours after he left, I started hemorrhaging again. I lost quite a bit of blood and they felt it was necessary to take me to labor and delivery. I called Ned to come back but knew it would take him a while so I called his sister Heather who lived down the road from the hospital and she came and stayed with me until Ned got there. Charlotte still seemed fine but the growing concern were the clots that were dislodging and the loss of blood. We went all day on the 2nd like this (bleeding on and off and multiple ultrasounds and shots to stop labor) and most of the day on the 3rd the same. On the afternoon of November 3rd the ultrasound they did found that my water had ruptured but they still thought the best thing for Lottie was to stay in the womb. Early on the morning 4th we were met in our room by Dr Jones, the neonatologist, and the high risk doctor. They were all helping prepare us for Charlotte's delivery. They told us that the ultrasound they did earlier that morning showed that the blood clots on my uterus were getting bigger and causing lots of risk for me, they were also concerned that keeping Charlotte in the womb much longer would increase her risk of infection and make it harder for her in the long run. They wanted to deliver her as soon as possible. Ned and I hardly had time to take it all in before they were wheeling me into surgery! Ahhh...the joy I felt seeing Charlotte for the first time right before they took her to the NICU. What a sweet and perfect baby girl!

I had some trouble after the delivery. I lost alot of blood and had to have a transfusion. The worst part was I wasn't able to see my little girl again for 2 days! When I finally did make it down to the NICU what I saw was amazing! I remember thinking of Psalm 139, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." I had no idea really what to expect and I'm kinda glad...He promises never to give us more than we can handle. It would be six incredibly long weeks before I could even hold her for the first time. It was over 8 weeks before I heard her cry for the first time (the things we take for granted) I remember hearing other babies in the NICU cry and having to hold back tears . What I wouldn't give to just hear her sweet cry. We are so thankful for the most amazing doctors and nurses! We got the three best nurses Fairfax Hospital has to offer!! They really loved on our little Charlotte when we weren't there to do it.

Charlotte is 1 year old today and we've been so busy celebrating that I'm just now updating the blog! God is so good! He continues to show His mercies are new every morning! She is such a joy and blessing to us. She's such a happy baby laughing and "talking" to us! We are working on her birthday video and will post it as soon as it's finished. Thanks to all who have loved our little girl and prayed so faithfully!

Looking Back...

Holding Charlotte tonight, listening to her laugh and watching her smile, I can't help but think about a year ago tonight and how close we were to loosing her. Tomorrow Charlotte will be one year old and we are truly celebrating what a year it has been! This time one year ago, I was at Fairfax Hospital praying (after finding out through ultrasound that my water had broken) that we'd be able to hold off delivering our sweet baby Charlotte for another week at least. At 23 weeks and 6 days gestation, every day she could stay in the womb increased her chances of survival. There was also some concern for me since I had a placenta abruption (where the placenta pulls away from the uterine lining) and I was hemorrhaging on and off. Blood clots were forming inside of me and periodically dislodging, causing significant bleeding...this had started around 2:30am on November 1st, and continued on and off up until the delivered her on the 4th.

We have witnessed first hand the miracle of little Charlotte! We are so grateful to everyone who prayed for her and for us! I will post pictures and another update tomorrow on her birthday.:)

The picture above is of me going in for my last ultrasound where they determined they needed to go ahead and deliver Charlotte as quickly as possible.

Happy 2nd Birthday James!

Two years ago today, we welcomed our second baby boy into the world. He weighed 7lbs 8 oz and was 21 inches long. James Patrick Ryun is a joy to everyone he meets. His best friend by far is his big brother Nathaniel. He loves looking at books and playing with and talking about tractors. His favorite word is "why" and his favorite song is "Happy Birthday." Often times I'll be doing stuff around the house and hear James in the other room singing softly, "happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..." that's the only part he knows and it goes on and on.:) He LOVES the drums and constantly has something in his hands that resemble drum sticks, (thanks Evan) it usually ends up being my chop sticks or two unsharpened pencils. The other day we were in the drive-thru at McDonalds and J.J. was waving to the people working there and saying, "Hi! Hi! Hi!" over and over because no one was saying hi back. I finally said, "they say hi back J.J." Nathaniel immediately pipes up in the back, "No they didn't mommy!" Haha...poor James.:) I don't have enough time in the day to say all the wonderful things I love about little James. The best thing about being James' mommy is I get to cuddle with him all day long...he loves this.:)

We love you little buddy! Happy Birthday!!

Love, Mommy, Daddy, Nathaniel, and Char-Char :)

Poor Little James :(

Poor little JJ caught some sort of virus that has pretty much kept him in my lap or in the bed since earlier Thursday morning. He threw up Thursday morning and had a fever, I gave him Motrin for the fever and lots of fluids (which he threw up) and he slept for most of the morning. Ned stayed home from work Thursday, so I could take Lottie to her video swallow, he told me James seemed fine in the afternoon while I was gone. When I got back he looked like he was feeling better but he felt warm again when I put him to bed so I gave him some Tylenol. He woke up at 2:30am Friday and threw up again and was running a temp. Around 11am Friday morning he still had a fever (even though I was giving him medicine) so I decided to be extra cautious and call the doctor. They told me to bring him in that evening so I did. By the time I went to leave for the doc, James was acting totally fine and I almost called to cancel but thought since I had the appt I'd better just keep it (can't be too careful with Lottie in the house). He still felt and acted fine when we got to the doc but as we sat there waiting to be seen he started getting lethargic and feeling really warm. First thing doc did after asking me what his symptoms where was check his temp. He looked at the thermometer with a shocked face and showed it to me and it read 105.8 degrees! He thought maybe his thermometer was broken so he tried another and it read the same! He shot out of the room to get his wife to run a tepid bath, got Tylenol in him and ran him to the back to get his fever down. I stood in the back of the doctor's office for 30 minutes pouring cold water over poor James' head. We were able to get his temp down to 99.0 (thank God). After it was down doc told me that was a record for his office. He was very happy to find that JJ's little body could handle a temp that high! We still need prayer though...we've been fighting this fever all day today and have given him 2 cool baths already when it shot up too high. He hasn't thrown up since yesterday morning so that's good. Right before I started this post I took the picture attached, he was feeling really good, but now he's sitting on my lap and I can tell his fever is back again.:( Thank you all again for your prayers!

Quick update on Charlotte: The speech therapist got back to me late yesterday afternoon and said I did the right thing in putting her back on the nectar. She suggested I keep her on nectar for another week or two and try taking her off again this time more gradually. Thank you for your comments! It's always sweet to see people are reading this.:) Love you all!

Charlotte's Video Swallow Update

This morning I took Charlotte to Fairfax Hospital for her third video swallow since she was born. A video swallow is like a live x-ray to make sure she's not aspirating her food. Since the feeding tube was taken out in the NICU Lottie has been on Nectar (a thickener for her formula). Before she left the NICU in March speech therapy did a video swallow to see if she could go home on regular formula. The study showed she was aspirating thin liquids. It's pretty interesting to watch actually, they mix what they call a barrier in her formula which is like a white powder, this allows them to watch the liquid go down into her stomach through the x-ray machine. In Lottie's case, some of the thin liquid she swallowed was going into her airway. Anyway...she had another one done the middle of May and they said the same thing, she was still aspirating thin liquids. I went back again today hoping and praying we'd be done with nectar forever! They tried her formula in a few different bottles with thin and thick liquids and we watched her swallow it down great! The speech therapist noticed just a little penetration in her airway but no aspiration yay!! They said I could feed her regular formula without the nectar but that I should just watch for signs that she might be aspirating again and to call if I had questions. I made my way home very happy! I had to stop on my way back to feed her (her first full bottle with no nectar) she drank it down like a pro, so I put her in her car seat and made my way back to the car, before I could get outside however she started choking really bad and I frantically tried to get her out of her seat. Just as I was lifting her out she projectile vomited all over herself and her seat! So...I'm going to call the speech therapist tomorrow to see what I should do but until I hear back from her I guess we're back to the nectar. I was pretty discouraged earlier, but after a nice talk with my mom, I feel so much better.:) We have so much to be thankful for when it come to our little girl! Having to put nectar in every bottle is just a reminder to me of where we came from and how blessed we are that nectar is the only thing she is on due to her prematurity. We are still so grateful for your prayers! We can't believe she is going to be one year old in just 3 weeks!

Nathaniel and Charlotte

A very serious Charlotte waiting to be fitted for her second DOC Band

Lottie hanging with Daddy

Baby Food!!

The last couple of weeks we have been trying to introduce Lottie to baby food but she hasn't wanted anything to do with it until today. She ate every bit and licked the bowl!! The proof is in the pictures.:) I took these with my phone so that's why they're a little fuzzy.

Summer Fun!

The last few weeks have been very full for us to say the least. On the 3rd Ned's twin brother Drew, his wife Becca, and their two little girls Skye and Lily came for a visit and stayed almost 2 weeks. Ned and Drew had a week long running camp in Gettysburg (which Drew heads up) starting July 5th and ending on the 10th. Drew's Becca and I held down the fort here at home with the five kiddos. Our plan: 1. Keep the kids happy (mainly Lily who has a history of puking on you when she gets upset). 2. Wake up early every morning to run and do yoga every afternoon while the kids sleep. 3. Stay up late watching movies and eating junk.:) What actually happened: 1. I really wasn't keeping track but I think Lily puked about 5 or 6 times...help me out here Bec. We learned that Skye needs personal space and Nathaniel doesn't know what that means. Also Nathaniel likes pushing Skye's buttons i.e. sitting down right in front of her while she's watching a show (she's very serious about her cartoons) or touching a toy she has repeatedly because I told him he can't take it from her...even worse, sitting on her blankie! I could go on and on...I was having to get after Nathaniel so much for stuff that Skye caught on towards the end of their stay and started blaming him any time something happened even if it wasn't his fault...smart girl.:) 2. I think we woke up early to run once the whole week and didn't do yoga at all! 3. We were able to keep ourselves awake one night to watch a movie all the way through...we were so exhausted from taking care of five kids 3 and under that going to bed early always sounded better than staying up late watching movies. We did eat LOADS of junk, I think I must have put on 5 pounds in the 12 days they were here!! It was crazy but fun!

All the fun ended on the 14th when they headed back to TX. In other news, Charlotte had her last appointment for the first DOC Band on the 15th. They had told us she would probably be in the first band 3-4 months before she outgrew it. She is growing so fast that she was only in that helmet for 5 weeks!! She is due to go in this Wednesday to get her second (and last) band...hopefully she will get through this one as fast as the first! She is going to be 9 months on August 4th and is developing beautifully! She is wearing 9mos clothes and #3 diapers! She's such a chub and happy most of the time.:) She loves her brothers and they love her! Nathaniel helps her with her exercises (holds her toy rings above her so she learns to reach for them and grab onto them). She is rolling over and holding her head up great! I started feeding her some solids but she doesn't like it too much yet. James loves to help feed her! We have to watch him like a hawk because he's been known to find old bottles around the house and try to feed her! He did this with Lily too when Drew and Becca were here...I guess he just wants to make sure the babies are getting enough to eat.:)

I wanted to share a picture of Charlotte with Jackie (one of her primary nurses from the NICU). We got to visit with her at the hospital for a little while a couple weeks ago when Charlotte went in for one of her appointments. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

The Best Daddy Ever!!

Father's Day (a week late)

I've been so bad at updating!! Hope everyone had a great Father's Day last week! Last Thursday evening I did a last minute photo shoot with the kids as part of Ned's father's day gift...it was pretty crazy! I had a specific idea of how it all would go in my head but it didn't quite work out the way I'd planned. Mary, my sister (the photographer) was a very good sport to put up with all of us. Three kids 3 and under + 3 pairs of rain boots + flooded creek + loads of mud = DISASTER!! I think we were out for 2 hours and this is what we got.

Quick Update

Charlotte had another appointment for her DOC Band this afternoon and it went really well. They were really impressed when they noticed improvement already! It's pretty cool actually, the way it works is the helmet holds the side of her head that grew out too much because of the way she laid on one side in the NICU while she was so small. While the band holds the side that sticks out too far, the other side of her head can fill in. Her head had grown so much in a week that they had to shave the inside of the band down quite a bit to give her more room to grow and they want to see her back in a week instead of the usual two weeks. Hope you all are having a great week so far!

Becca

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