1 Corinthians 13:13

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Swim Lesson Number 6

Last night we had swim lesson number 6 at the Y. Our night did not begin well at the Y. Rachel had been sitting up on the bench in the locker room. I had my hand on her abdomen to help support her and she had been doing really well. I moved slightly to put my glasses in the locker and Rachel tipped backwards falling off of the bench. I felt terrible about her falling. She bumped her forehead and sustained a small scratch and bump to it. I immediately went into nurse mode and started neuro checks on her.I tried to get her sister to get an ice bag from the front of the Y (all of us were in swimsuits only at this time) but she refused due to a boy she knew was in the front lobby. (seriously? Bre is 5'5" and maybe 104 lbs) Rachel stopped crying within 3-4 minutes of falling and went into her usual happy mood. I continued doing neuro checks on her until she went to bed and her dad woke her up about 3 times during the night to check on her. She woke up this morning with the scratch and small bump as her only residual from the fall. I still feel 100% terrible about it.

During the swim lesson we had the babies practice digging with their hands while reaching out for pool toys. I kept Rachel on her tummy but instead of digging with her hands she spent the time kissing the toys she caught and kicking. We practiced 1,2,3 Go at the side of the pool with longer periods of time for the little ones to wait before getting in the water. I let Rachel slide into the pool into my arms when she was ready instead of lifting her in. She did really well considering the basket of pool toys was less than 2 feet away. Next we sang If Your Happy and You Know it while doing motions in the water (clapping, splashing the water, up and down, and side to side). After that we placed the babies with their backs on our chests and had them put their feet on the sides of the pool, We had the babies push off of the sides of the pool with their feet and helped them float backwards to the other side of the pool and do it again. Rachel didn't seem to fond of this as each time we reached the side of the pool she would try to climb out to get more toys. She dunked 2 times during the swim class. Right as the swim class was ending Rachel declared it was "Night Night" time to the other babies. The adults in the group seconded her suggestion- it was cute. Rachel's swim instructor was very pleased with the progress she had made since the beginning of the lessons. Rachel turns herself in the water from front to back, back to front and on her sides. She seems very comfortable and relaxed in the water and loves it. Her instructor had also commented to me "that I shouldn't have been worried when we started lessons and that Rachel has been able to do everything all of the other kids were able to do." She also stated that upper body strength is much more important in swimming and that the legs and feet are pretty much just for balance. These are great words and I hope to hear more about our other spina bifida brothers and sisters in the water.

Ignore the mess in the backround (after effects of Dad allowing a sleepover while Mom was away working)- what you see in this picture is Rachel's new favorite thing to pull up on and push in front of her. The sleepover girls left a bowl of cheetos on the table. Rachel had never had a cheeto before and took one out of the bowl. She must have thought they were great because she spent a lot of time pulling up and taking little steps behind this table to get to the rest of the cheetos. Sadly for her, Lucky snatched up the rest of the bag of cheetos.
Our front porch rail is another great motivator for Rachel to stand by. She likes to pick up her feet and put them on the bottom of the rail. (yes our porch is ancient- our house was built in 1926)
Updated pictures of her pressure sores healed. Yes- it is as difficult to paint the toe nails on a spina bifida toddler with little to no toe movement as it is a normal toddler.Instead of them wiggling their toes around they try to kick you in the face while you are trying to apply the polish. She wasn't too cooperative when I tried to clean up the areas that needed it.
The healed surgical scar on her right foot and healed pressure sore on the back of her calf.
The healed surgical scar on her left foot. This scar is not nearly as big as the one on her right foot.
The healed pressure sore from the top of her left foot. One thing I find interesting about her feet- is the position of her leg on a surface determines how clubbed her foot appears at the time. If I would have taken a picture with her leg straight out in front of her- it would not look as nearly clubbed as it does in this picture.
Could that be some red hair coming in? Her physical therapist thinks so but I see it daily so I haven't really notice if it is changing.
Someone likes to climb on top of the toy box and stand up to look out the front window.Rachel's AFOs will be ready on the 23rd of this month. She is wearing the pair of SMOs (aka AFO shorties) in this picture.

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